Psychopath Playpen
by DoceoPercepto
Summary: With Sylvia plotting the resistance on the secret planet, Wander makes one final attempt to befriend Lord Dominator. Unfortunately for him, the bored villain has other plans.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: If you aren't ready to read tons of gratuitous torture, then don't touch this story with a ten foot pole. This chapter, mostly review of the episode, isn't too bad, but It Gets Worse. This has been a PSA.

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Chapter 1

An enemy is just a friend you haven't made yet.

Except Lord Dominator had vampirized every last planet in the galaxy but one. She wrecked lives with gleeful abandon, and laughed as she took away everything familiar and loved. If she caught word that a single planet still survived, it wouldn't any longer. The planet and its refugee inhabitants would be…. Would be….

Wander swallowed hard. He couldn't finish that thought. An enemy is just a friend you haven't made yet. He had to remember that.

But... There was a huge blaring red difference between Dominator and all the other villains Wander had encountered. Dominator didn't want to _conquer_. She wanted to _kill_. And that – that was so beyond Wander's comprehension. So inanely beyond what was normal, what was okay, and –

"Stop it, Wander," he scolded himself. "It's up to you. You can't flake out here."

He slunk around another molten pillar. The sulfuric lava stench stung the inside of his throat – didn't Dominator ever get tired of hot rock and lava? Didn't she ever wish for fresh air? The sun? Or flowers?

Remembering the single flower that Dominator had systematically mutilated, Wander fought off another tide of despair. _Doing_ evil was not the same as _being_ evil, he reminded himself.

He needed to get Dominator's attention before any more doubts could swamp him. "Um, hello?" his voice cracked; he cleared his throat and tried again, bolder, "Dominator? I just wanted to stop by, have a chat – is this a bad time?"

A drone of distant noise erupted deep in the ship's bowels. Wander tensed as the sound rapidly gained ground and decibels. Soon enough, dozens of Dombots rushed into focus and circled Wander completely.

"Ee!" He cowered as guns emerged from each bot and primed themselves to shoot.

Wander gulped. Okay, big moment – he needed to keep himself alive long enough to talk with –

"Bots, stand down," came an imperious voice from the shadows.

Lord Dominator. She… she had called off the robots!

The tiny machines parted obediently as the villain herself stepped into view, armorless and wearing a coy smile.

"Oh, look! It's my favorite little wanderer! Great to see you. I have been _sooo_ bored."

"You're not going to have them destroy me?" Wander eyed the bots.

"What? Of course not!"

"R-really?" An inadvertent grin began to sneak its way up his face.

"Really."

Wander sprang up. "Yes! I knew there was some good in you!"

"See," Dominator continued in a tone bordering playful, "why would I have _them_ kill you? You're, like, the only interesting dork alive in this galaxy! I'm keeping you all for myself!"

That… didn't sound good. Wander had the sense to take a step back. "Uh… Whaddaya mean by that?"

Dominator grinned, but it was far from friendly. " _Run_ ," she hissed.

That was all warning he got before a jet of lava fried the tips of his fur. He was running before the following icicle staked itself exactly where he had been previously standing.

Dominator's laughter rang in his head as he careened down the hallway – oh Grop, she was _enjoying_ this!

Another lava blast cracked the floor beneath his feet and he screeched, vaulting over the shrapnel. Her laughter ratcheted up a notch.

"Wow, I didn't know I was gonna get to see a _dance_ routine!" she yelled after him. "Come on, show me what other moves you've got!"

"I just want to help you!" Wander yelled back, veering away from a stream of lava. "Can't we talk it out? I want to get to the root of your paa-AAHH!" Something struck him hard in the leg – for a second, he didn't know if it was heat or cold, but the question was answered when he went tumbling head over heels and glimpsed a cage of ice encasing his knee. He landed hard on his face and the ice cracked against the floor. "Oof!"

"Ohh, does that sting?" Dominator's voice taunted, now suddenly much closer. "My bad – I wanted it to _burn_!"

A molten hand clamped down on his knee, and the thick reek of burning fur nearly choked off his scream - nearly.

"Sttoooopp, stop, stop – Grop, oh –" His expression contorted and another howl ripped itself from his throat.

Finally Dominator removed her hand. In its place, the entire middle section of his leg was furless and scalded like cooked meat.

"A-ah," Wander's outstretched hands trembled as they beheld this ruined appendage, this thing that was once a healthy functioning leg. Tears welled in his eyes. "O-oh Grop…."

Dominator sighed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Don't be a wimp. If you're gonna act this way after just _one_ injury, then you're barely worth keeping around."

Wander dug his teeth into his lips. His quivering eyes craned up to meet Dominator's vicious red irises. "Why are you like this?" he uttered hoarsely.

"Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of how much FUN this is!"

"There's gotta be some reason you're so – so Grop-darned _evil_ all the time!" Wander dragged himself across the floor and clutched Dominator's skirt. "If you tell me what's ailing ya, maybe I can help you out. What do you say?"

Lord Dominator hesitated. For a brief moment, Wander glimpsed something in her eyes, something that wasn't just hate or sadism. "Do you really mean that?" she murmured.

Wander's heart nearly broke with hope. "Y-yes! Yes I do! It's like I always say – an enemy is just a friend you haven't made yet!" His voice was breaking, and reaching pitches it rarely did. He tried to ignore this. It was just – a bit of shock, that was all. All this would be worth it when Dominator turned to the good side.

"Wow." Dominator's lava gloves vanished. "I've never had somebody say something so nice to me before."

"Sometimes, all it takes is a little kindness," Wander said. His hope thankfully detracted from the excruciating reminder that his legs _may or may not be burnt beyond all repair_. Urgently, he added, "S-so, Dominate-ey – Dee – Dompal – What's your story?"

"Like, what made me so messed up?" Dominator asked.

"Y-yes. We can talk it out, hug it out, and then be friends!"

"Oh gosh, where do I begin?" Dominator threw a hand to her forehead and fluttered her eyes shut.

Wander rubbed his thigh and tried to ignore the savage throbs of pain. Once Dominator turned good, everything could be forgiven, and then they could do the best to fix his leg… it probably wasn't permanent… probably…

"Oh!" Dominator thrust her hands up in excitement. "I'll start with my brother!"

"Y-you have a brother? Did he – was he mean to you?"

"Oh, he was just the worst! He was two years younger and just the most annoying clingy thing! He was such a tattle tale – _wah wah, she stole my cookies, she shoved me down the stairs, she stuck needles in my arms_ – I mean, what a _whiner_! I obviously had to get my entertainment somehow, right?! And he just wanted to ruin all my fun!"

Wander scooted back. "Dominator, I don't think –"

"And then there was the first time I killed someone, too – I mean, wow, what a rush! They don't teach that in school!"

"N-no, no, this isn't it-"

"Coincidentally, it was my brother!"

"Dominator, no-"

"But I think," she continued, her grin bleeding into every sardonic word, "what really made me who I am, was the first planet I sucked the life out of! My own home planet! Oh, the screaming!" Lord Dominator draped herself against a column and sighed longingly.

"You weren't being serious when you said you'd open up about your trauma," Wander said, shaking.

"Wow, no really?" Dominator rolled her eyes. "You're so perceptive. Amazing."

"Th-then be honest! Open up; tell me what's got ya so down!"

Dominator narrowed her eyes at him. "What's got me down, dork, is that there's no planets left to destroy, and all I've got left is your dumb face to entertain me."

"There has to be something else –"

"Hey, is that your weird Zbornak pal?" Dominator pointed, and everything in Wander went cold as he glimpsed Sylvia's shadow against the wall.

"S-Sylvia!" He instinctively moved to pursue her, but fire raked up his leg and he went crashing to the ground again – right, injury: he wasn't in any shape to be moving. "Run! Sylvia, you gotta get out of here before-"

A lava blast shot so close over his head that he felt the graze of its heat. It pierced straight through Sylvia's neck and severed her head clean off. The warning twisted into a howl of agony.

"Sylvia, noooo!" A thick chunk of ice landed in his lap. He gazed down at it and… it was an ice replica of Sylvia's head.

Wait.

He looked back up. The rest of the Sylvia shadow was still poised against the wall. Dominator was laughing maniacally. Wander glanced back down at the head in his lap.

It was…. Fake. Dominator had created a Sylvia ice sculpture and beheaded that, not Sylvia herself… who was likely still safe on the last planet in the galaxy.

"Well, that was fun," Dominator said cheerily.

A deep shudder worked its way up Wander's spine, and he bent over the severed ice head. In less than twenty minutes, Dominator had physically maimed him, pretended to kill Sylvia, and played along with his sympathy just to torment him further. Evidently, just because it was _fun_. Oh Grop. A whimper fluttered from his throat.

"Awww, no need to cry…" Dominator crooned. Her gloved hand ruffled his hair too firmly to ever be comfortable. "Now you get to stay with me and hang out!" One swift kick sent the ice head flying from into the wall, where it smashed into pieces. "You know what I just realized? Now I've got a _friend_ to celebrate with!"

She loomed over him, grinning like a maniac. "What do you say, Wander? Friends?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Now _this_ is the real celebration protocol omega!" Dominator crowed gleefully.

Wander wasn't sure exactly what she was talking about, but he was convinced it meant nothing good.

After immobilizing him in ice and physically setting him on a chair, Lord Dominator had hastily fashioned a volcanic rock table, which was shortly thereafter heaped with Bot-cooked and delivered food – all teeth-rotting sweets loaded with sugar. A huge cake in the center declared in proud red letters, "Greatest in the Galaxy: Lord Dominator!"

Clusters of balloons were strung from the table corners.

Wander _did_ have an idea of what she was celebrating, of course, but he wasn't very enthusiastic about being a participant in the party.

"I know what I was missing now," Dominator continued, putting her hands on her hips and eating up the whole scene with unabated pleasure. "I needed one sad little dork here so I could rub it in."

The rich sweet aroma of the desserts blended nauseatingly with the ship's sulfuric fetor.

"Can't we talk about this?" Wander tried weakly. "Maybe – maybe if ya just try bein' good-"

"Ugh, this again? I'd find your naiveté _hilarious_ , if it wasn't so _annoying_." Dominator slumped into the chair opposite him. She jammed her finger into the cake and slurped up all the sugary stickiness with a wet _pop!._ "I mean, come on! If your friendship song and dance didn't work before, why would it work now that I've destroyed _all_ of your adorable little galaxy?"

Wander didn't reply. Everything hurt.

"I just love desserts at parties, don't you?" She swiped her finger through the cake again, disregarding the cake cutter available right beside it.

 _What if…. She is evil just because she's evil…._

"Hey, I asked you a question!"

 _bonk!_ The cupcake Dominator chucked bounced pointlessly off Wander's hat and splatted on the ground.

Dominator sniggered.

"I do like desserts," Wander agreed, trying to inject some positivity into his words. Instead he felt a bone-deep exhaustion and unease. Above anything, he wanted to rest, recover from the physical and emotional damage, and then he could wake up peppy and confident and ready to befriend even someone like Lord Dominator.

"Hm." Dominator threw her slim legs up on the table and continued smuggling cake bits with her finger. "So, where's your little Zbornak friend?"

Wander tensed. "Um, she's um – she's not goin'ta be a problem, no ma'am. She's – she's just um – somewhere, doing um - something."

"Huh." A swipe of cake. Dominator's long tongue flattened to the frosty coating and she licked it from her fingers. Piercing red eyes remained fixed on Wander. "Weird." Another chunk taken from the cake.

"Yup, haha, so that's what she's been up to," Wander chuckled nervously. "Good ol' Sylvia, she's – she's a good one." He didn't know exactly what he was saying; all he knew was that Dominator's scrutiny unnerved him on a visceral level, and she'd already caused him a great deal of pain. "If uh – if we got to be friends, too, we could all have a good ol' time. B-but only if ya give up bein' evil!"

Another lewd lick. Dominator said nothing, and Wander sweated even under his ice prison.

"S-so maybe we could start by releasing me and enjoying these desserts?" Wander honestly didn't know if his nauseous stomach could keep down any food, much less food so packed with sugar, but an offer of friendship meant more than that.

Dominator's eyes traveled down to his ice cage and then back up to his face. "Doesn't your Zbornak protect you from making stupid decisions?"

'Um, well, that's one way of lookin' at it, but –"

"So she doesn't know you came here."

"Uhhh."

Dominator smiled knowingly. "Fun." She closed her lips around her finger and sucked off all the sugar with an expression that made Wander intensely uncomfortable.

"Fun…?"

"Oh!" Her eyes widened. "I just realized - I've just been so rude, eating all this right in front of you. You must want something, too!"

Wander wasn't certain he'd ever have an appetite again, but he wasn't about to tell Dominator no. "I-if you offer so politely –" He could probably stomach a bite or two. Probably. "But how do I…" he nodded his head at the table, which may be two inches away from him, but also was completely out of his reach due to the fact his arms were cemented firmly at his sides.

"I'll help." Dominator swung her legs off the table and stood up in one fluid motion. As she circled around the table, she snatched a swollen red velvet cupcake with a fat swirl of strawberry-pink icing on the top. "Here, eat this."

Standing close enough that he could feel her body heat, she waved the cupcake before his lips. "Don't you want it?"

No. No not at all, because the vitriolic reek of the ship clogged his nostrils and mixed with the suffocatingly sweet cupcake and his stomach was twisting weirdly and oh Grop he didn't know if he could eat it.

"Waaaandeerr~" she sang. "I made it just for youuu~. Or well, I didn't, but the Bots did. You don't want all their hard work to go for nothing, do you?"

Wander emitted a high-pitched whine, but forced his mouth to open just a little. One bite. That's all he would endure. One bite to make Dominator happy.

"That's not gonna be enough," she said, and jammed her thumb between his teeth. Her nail mercilessly dug into his sensitive gums, and he cried out.

This was all she needed to cram the entirety of the cupcake into his mouth. "Eat up!" She cheerfully advised.

"Nng!" Wander thrashed, but her hand slapped over his mouth like an iron clasp. The sticky sugar clung to his gums and teeth and tongue and it clogged his throat – tears shot to his eyes and he strained to swallow – once, twice –

But there was so much of it in his mouth, and the dry bits stuck to the back of his throat, and he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe – frantically he swallowed again, and it wasn't moving down, and he hadn't had water in hours so it was sticking -

"Nnnh!" He tried to alarm Dominator, but – too late.

With one violent gag, vomit surged up his throat and gushed between her fingers.

She yanked away with a cry; the rest of the throw up splattered half on Wander's ice cage and half on the floor.

"Eeeeeweww!" Dominator squealed, holding her hand out far from her body. "That's so disgusting!"

"Ung…" Wander blinked away his tears and shuddered. Oh Grop, the feeling of vomit dribbling down his chin… he wanted so badly to wipe it away but with his body and arms confined there was no way…

"That's so gross," Dominator whined. "Clean it up!" The foul-smelling hand was thrust in front of Wander's face.

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me. Lick it off."

"N-n-no-"

"Oh, you thought I was _asking_ you? Wow, that's so dumb!"

The whine of a blaster, and Wander found himself with a ten-inch lava canon a hair away from his face.

"Lick."

He quavered. She – she wouldn't actually – she wouldn't – there was good in her somewhere –

Displeasure spread across Dominator's face in an ugly, dangerous look as Wander failed to obey yet again.

Wandered weakened: for one terrible moment he thought with absolute certainty, _I'm going to die._

"Ruaaaghh!" Dominator screamed. The canon flashed back into a normal hand, "fine! You're right! I won't kill you because you're the only halfway interesting dork left!"

For a moment, Wander let himself feel relief – there _was_ something good in her!

Then she melted the ice that was caging him, and a grin burst to his lips despite the fact he was now soaked in water and vomit. "Dominator! I knew you were good somewhere deep d-"

She snapped his pointer finger against the back of his hand.

He stopped talking. He stared in confusion at this bizarre finger that was now pointing grotesquely back at him as if saying, "here, this is me!" It took another second for the information of what happened to travel to his brain.

Then the pain hit and he screamed.

"Lick!" Dominator screamed back, waving her vomit-stained hand in front of his face.

He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the mutilated digit and very very suddenly there was not enough room on this entire ship to feel any bit okay; he needed out – he needed out, right now –

Dominator grabbed his middle finger and broke it, too. His ears popped from the scream that reverberated around the room – belatedly, he realized the noise had come from his own throat.

"Lick!"

 _No_. Wander scrambled out of the chair – both his legs struck the floor hard, and the burned one immediately crumpled. His great escape made it one step more before Dominator slammed him into the floor and his skull cracked against rock.

The world swirled around him; he felt lava rock press to his back and he glimpsed fiery red eyes gleaming with pleasure. Then fingers jammed themselves into his mouth and the foul taste multiplied – distantly, he remembered what he was supposed to do and he pitifully dragged his tongue over her hand.

On some level, he was aware of her making noises of approval, but his vision was dipping in and out of focus, and noticed little else except the excruciating pain and the taste of vomit that he forced down his throat swallow after swallow.

Finally, she pulled her hand from his mouth and wiped the saliva off on his fur.

"Hah, well, that was fun! … Wander? Ugh, are you passing out? Waaander? … Hello?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'll warn you again, as I warned in the first chapter! Torture! This is not a happy story and very bad things happen here. If you aren't ready to read this, kindly exit and find a fluffier story! Save your immortal soul! Also abrupt ending is abrupt.

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He woke up on the floor. Not, however, the same floor he'd fallen asleep on.

As he lifted his head, a foul-tasting stream of saliva connected to the ground snapped.

A huge control board and windshield reared high above him on one side, and on the other, the floor dropped away to a steep staircase. This was Lord Dominator's control deck, he realized. The same place where he had initially tried to give her a fruit basket.

So…. She had moved him while he was sleeping. That was unsettling, and he tried not to dwell on it: enough unsettling things had happened lately that he didn't want to add anything to the pile.

Wander's appraisal drifted to the condition of his own body. His right hand was swollen and numb: the two fingers Dominator had broken still bent at the wrong angle. The entire hand and wrist were tender and hot to the touch. Briefly, he considered realigning the bones, but the idea of doing something that grotesque turned his stomach.

Meanwhile, it took him one look to decide that his injured leg wasn't going to support his weight. The top layers of leg tissue he couldn't feel at all, while the muscles and bone beneath suffered constant agony. The injury surface itself had a weird waxy texture interspersed with white, pink, and black marbling. The top of his sock had completely burned away.

Looking at the ruined leg brought his nausea back, so Wander averted his eyes.

Finally, his fur was matted with bits of cupcake and stomach bile. He'd never felt so disgusting or so out of place before in his life. Just thinking of his abysmal situation, tears pricked at his eyes.

Grop, he'd really messed up this time…. Sylvia might have been right: some enemies really were just enemies.

The best he could do now was try to escape and warn Sylvia before she ever stepped foot on this ship. They could flee to another galaxy, and try to live in peace helping people….

Wander shifted into a sitting position, and that's when he froze, glimpsing something out of the corner of his eyes – the outline of lightening horns, the silky fabric of a black skirt, deceptively soft green skin.

His heart kicked into overdrive and panic pumped through his blood – She was going to hurt him, she was going to do something awful to him again, she –

…. Was sleeping?

Yes, those menacing horns loomed, but the helmet itself sat crooked on her head. Her cheek was squished against the control board, her lips slightly parted and eyes relaxed and closed. One arm draped over the control board; the other dangled limply at her side.

Wander scooted closer. Her back rose and fell slowly with her breathing. A tuft of white hair fluttered over her slack mouth.

Grabbing the control board, Wander hauled himself to his feet, the majority of his weight balanced on his one good leg.

He let out a small breath. It made sense for her to sleep, of course: everybody had to sleep, but… he had never pictured it before. She seemed…. So much gentler. The spiked pauldrons looked so huge and rigid on shoulders so tiny, while the skewed battle helmet bit into her soft cheek and formed a dark green line right below her eye. He'd never thought about how heavy her armor must be– how sharp the angles, how rough the surfaces. She exhaled, and the tuft of hair fluttered again. Tentatively, Wander arranged the rebellious tuft down with the rest of her hair.

Didn't she say once that she had chosen this outfit, at least in part, to resemble Hater, just to annoy him? A rush of pity filtered through him. She was so bent on hurting everything around her, she would even change something about herself simply for the sake of causing annoyance. A person like that was sorely in need of sympathy. If he could teach her to appreciate herself…

Red eyes groggily blinked open. Wander, despite his fresh resolve, froze in fear, much as prey would in the face of a predator. It was instinctive, done without thought.

Dominator blinked sleepily.

"H-Howdy there," Wander strained to smile. "And good morning! Is it morning? Out here in space, it's preeeetty hard to tell what time it is! And the time depends on what planet's time you're going by, too! Ol' Flarfopolis has two suns, so time is extra crazy there!" It occurred to him he might be rambling out of fear, but the important thing was showing kindness, right? "So what time do you go by?" Wander laughed nervously. "By the way, I really appreciate you not doin' nothin' to hurt me, Dominator, 'cause I know you reeeaaally like doin' that."

Dominator rubbed her eyes. Her fingers brushed the metal digging into her cheek. She righted the crooked helmet. A thoughtful finger prodded the sore line left on her cheek.

Using the control board as a crutch, Wander took a careful step back. "But I'm happy to start your day with a smile because if you had a few more smiles in your life, you wouldn't wanna hurt people so much, right? You'd see you were cared about." Wander realized his voice had built in pitch until it was naught but a squeak. He sucked in a sharp breath and trembled in anticipation of Dominator's reply.

She cast her drowsy gaze upon him. "Oh good, you shut up on your own." She apparently felt that was an appropriate conclusion to the conversation, as she then melted off her chair and began to trudge off.

"W-wait, where are you going? What are you doing?"

Without turning around, Dominator offered an exaggerated shrug and kept walking. "I dunno. What is there to do in this lousy galaxy anymore? Maybe I'll just find some space bugs and pull off their wings."

"Wait!" Wander lunged after her, only for his leg to explode with pain. The run turned into a dive, and he sprawled to the floor. Humiliated, he gazed up at Dominator's outline in the doorframe.

"What?" she bit out. "I'm really not in a good mood, Wander."

"What about me?"

"Uhhhh…. What about you?"

"You're not gonna leave me alone in here, are you?"

Dominator stared. Then she burst out laughing. "Can you even _be_ any more pathetic? _You're not gonna leave me alone, are you?_ Hahaha – wow, that's good! Gotta give you credit for _that_ joke, hoo!" Her grin turned feral. "What, you got attached already?"

"You are a pretty winning gal," Wander supplied, wishing that he sounded just a touch less terrified. Because he _had_ to befriend her: there was something good in her way way waaaay deep down and he was going to find it and then everything would be okey-dokey-artichokey and everybody in the galaxy could be friends!

Dominator slowly tilted her head to the side. "You guys just never get it."

"H-huh?"

"No matter how many times I explain it. Even after I destroy your entire galaxy." Dominator began to walk languidly back towards Wander, a strange expression on her face. "You just never get it, do you?"

An inadvertent whimper emerged from Wander's throat.

"I mean, wow – most people just scream and run, you know? _Oh no, not Lord Dominator, ahhhh!_ and then I go _Aahhhahahaa!_ and the planet goes _Kh-kh-CRUNCH!_ like a little insect just-" Dominator accentuated the statement by crushing her palms together viciously. "Man, I miss that! But you? You and ugh – Hater. You two just never get it. I mean, what do I look like?" Dominator spread her hands out. "Some dopey sap like you guys? Hello, I'm the destroyer of this galaxy! Shouldn't I get some credit from you losers!?"

"Weee-ell," Wander began in a voice much too high-pitched, "I think people's good deeds are what stand out the most! So even if you've done a lot of bad stuff, it's the good we should focus on!"

"I haven't done any good in my life!"

"Aw, now that can't be true. Everybody has some good in them." Wander peered up from the floor, wishing Dominator didn't look so tall and intimidating. "I'm sure if we sat down and thought real hard, we'd find a couple good deeds to your name!"

Dominator imitated mockingly, " _everybody has some good in them_ , _find good deeds to your name, let's hug it out,_ blah blah BLAH!" Her foot stomped down on his back; due to his small size, her shoe nearly spanned the entire length of his body. Very very quickly it became difficult for his lungs to properly expand, and his face ground hard against the floor. "I seriously can't believe you idiots!" Stomp stomp stomp; a tortured squelching noise burped from Wander's throat and his insides felt all funky.

"Cah—ful," he choked out. "Hur-ts."

"Oh no, what was that?" Dominator leaned in real close, until he could feel her breath on the back of his neck. "Did you say - I'm hurting you?" The faux concern ripped away with a harsh laugh. "You're mistaking me for somebody who cares!"

A massive hand grabbed him violently around the middle and pinned him flat to the staircase. His resulting cry of alarm was choked off when his front teeth clacked against the top stair.

 _Wait, what is she doing-?_ He twisted his head slightly to catch a glimpse.

"Maybe _this_ will teach you!" That's when the sole of her shoe slammed into the back of his skull. His teeth crunched on the stair, and white-hot pain exploded from his gums. His vision blacked out, and the torn gums jabbed needlessly against the stair edge. The resulting cry was choked with thick liquid that spurted from gaping lips. Oh Grop – vision lurched back into existence and he saw the stair splattered with blood and two teeth.

"Ahhghf!" His limbs flailed. The single thought in his mind was _get away get away get away_ and he shot backwards only to lose his footing completely and go tumbling down the staircase.

His bruised body came to a halt several stairs down. Hysterical open-mouthed whimpers uncontrollably spilled from his throat. His entire face was at this point throbbing and ohh no no; there was a third tooth loose but not quite torn from its root: he could feel it hard and blood-slick in his mouth, like the shell of some strange animal. How could it even be part of his own body when it felt so jagged and out of place? He touched his tongue to it tentatively and immediately regretted the shockwave of pain.

This was when a flash of light bizarrely lit up his face. The experience was so odd, so displaced to everything else going on, that his watering eyes peered up the staircase.

Oh. It was…. Dominator. Typing away at her phone. She had… taken a picture….

"A-ah?" Wander gestured hopelessly at his mouth; didn't she see the damage, wouldn't she help? Didn't she have to help once she saw how bad it was? "Ah?"

"Ugh, what are making that stupid noise for?" Dominator looked up and then frowned. "Oh, wait. You've still got one just kinda dangling there, huh? Here, I'll fix that-"

Before Wander could protest or move, her arm elongated with lava and she yanked out the third tooth.

He howled and collapsed against the staircase, clutching his mouth frantically - no more, no more!

"Eww," Dominator flicked the tooth at him. "Would you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to find a good filter for this."

"Nnh!" Tears poured from his eyes and mixed horribly with the blood. His spine shuddered beneath the pain and he curled into himself, shaking hands cradling his ruined mouth without daring to actually touch the tender flesh.

His – his teeth, those definitely couldn't be fixed, not like fingers that could heal, or a leg that… that might heal…

"Hey," Dominator snapped, pinning her gaze on him again. "I said shut up. Don't be such a drama queen."

Wander released a long, pitiful keen. Wouldn't she help? Just a little? Nobody could stand by and let this happen; she couldn't have meant to cause him this much harm…

"Ugh." Dominator rolled her eyes and stomped down the stairs to him. "Look, fine. I'll fix you up but only because you're like, really disgusting to look at right now. And you're not any use to me if you bleed out."

She grabbed his hand and began to walk purposefully down the stairs – Wander, for his part, did his best to get his traitorous feet under him and to move in an acceptable fashion. Of course, it also took him only one stair before a fresh cry of pain burst from his lips and he slumped like a limp doll in her grip.

"Seriously?" Dominator lifted him up by the hand so that he dangled like a puppet at eye height. "You can't even walk?"

"Leg!" Wander tried to enunciate, but since he didn't want to touch his tongue to his ragged and bloody gums, the word stupidly came out as "egg!"

Dominator chuckled. "All right, I gotta give you credit for making my morning like, way more interesting than it was going to be. Without any planets to destroy, I guess I gotta make do with you." That said, she gathered him in her arms bridal-style and walked on.

Wander blinked plaintively. This… this was safe. This was okay. Being held felt…. Secure. Like curling up beside Sylvia for a nap. His tears slowly abated.

A soft mumble emerged from his throat. Dominator was warm. If… if she was holding him, then she wasn't hurting him, and that was good…. Maybe she was going to take care of him, after all. A tiny hand clung to her shirt. Grop, his mouth hurt.

As they tread down the halls, the huge faces of bots loomed on either side, and Wander shrank deeper into Dominator's hold.

"Relax," Dominator dismissed. "They're not going to attack unless I tell them to." She snickered, "and _that's_ a fun game you and I should play sometime."

She kicked open a door and Wander's eyes widened. This was her _bathroom_. And it was enormous. He noticed immediately the sleek obsidian marble surfaces serving as the walls, floors, and countertops, accented by the porcelain sinks and toilet. The marble was unlike anything Wander had ever seen: ruby red lines branched through the black coloration, suggesting that there was more to the substance than simply marble.

The ivory bath itself could practically be a mini pool, and was accompanied by a wall-mounted flat screen TV, angled perfectly for a person reclining in the tub.

Dominator smirked at his expression. "What, you don't have a set up like this?"

He shook his head.

"Don't wet yourself." Dominator dumped him onto the toilet and grabbed a washcloth. "Stick this in your mouth."

"Nnh?"

"Do it or I'll do it for you. It'll stop the bleeding."

Wander accepted the washcloth, wadded it up, and bit down on it. Dominator then knelt in front of Wander with a clinical look upon her face. "Hold out your hand."

"Whu?" he said around the cloth.

"Are you deaf? Hold out your hand – the injured one."

Oh Grop. No, no –

"Hey!" She smacked his head. "Give me your stupid hand, all right? I'm trying to help you."

Trembling, Wander offered the swollen hand. Dominator cradled it with an unexpected delicateness.

"Hmmm. All right. Well, I have some good news for you, Wander."

"Mmn?"

Her eyes glinted wickedly. "You're already in so much pain, this might not be that bad!" She wasted no time in grasping the two crooked fingers and yanking them both straight.

"Hrrk!" Wander bent double on the toilet, clenching his eyes shut.

"Sweet, I think I did that right. They look almost normal! Woo, go me. I've never done that before, haha."

He dared to open his eyes. Normal was the wrong word. But they were finally pointing the direction that fingers should, and that was a big plus. When he tried to move his fingers, he discovered that he had some reasonable degree of motion left with them – he could lift them up and down, but clenching them with the others caused pain to spike up his hand again.

"Hmmm," Dominator frowned at them. "Hold up." She rifled through a nearby shelf and returned with medical tape, which she promptly used to wrap all four fingers together.

"Yeah, sure, that looks good enough," she muttered, seemingly to herself.

"Ng?" he whimpered.

She stepped back and surveyed the blood, cupcake, and vomit covered mess that was Wander. She tapped her lips. "You know what else you need? A bath."


	4. Chapter 4

Wander couldn't have been awake for more than an hour, but already exhaustion was setting into his bones. This was exceedingly unusual for the little traveler, normally possessed of boundless energy and enthusiasm. Then again, it was also unusual for him to be in this much pain.

Dominator was busy filling the bathtub. While her attention lay elsewhere, Wander took the precious few moments to gather himself together. Or at least, that was the plan – in reality, he simply zoned out the moment Dominator had her back turned. He didn't conjure any constructive plan for escape, he didn't assess the damage to his body, and he didn't consider ways he might preserve his remaining non-injured body parts.

Instead, he sat and stared at one ruby vein in the black marble wall. He didn't move, except but to breathe, which he did in shallow, staccato beats. He entirely forgot Dominator was in the room, or that he was on her ship – in fact, he thought or felt almost nothing whatsoever.

"Hey. Hey. Helloooo?"

A hand waved in front of his face and he blinked. It was a green hand, with short clipped nails.

"Anyone in there?" She knocked on his head and he jumped, reality crashing back in.

"Here." She tugged out the thick wad of bloody washcloth from his mouth and pulled a disgusted face at it. "Ugh. Now I have to get the bots to wash this…."

"Sorry about spacin' out there, Dom," Wander said, relieved somewhat to find that the words came out more or less normal despite his missing teeth. "My head was waayy way in the clouds. Huh… it doesn't even really hurt anymore!"

"Really?" Dominator said, narrowing her eyes.

"Sure!" Standing on the toilet seat, balancing himself with one foot on the seat and one hand on the counter, Wander twisted his body around to look in the mirror. He pulled his lips away from his teeth.

Oh. That… The whole inside of his mouth was painted weirdly red and the gums were swollen and – those holes looked huge… His stomach lurched. Some blood still dribbled from the torn roots.

Dominator sniggered. "Your expression is priceless, hold up –" _Flash_ , another picture.

Wander turned away from the mirror in surprise. "Wait, I didn't want-"

"To be put on Instagram? Hah, too late for that! Now come on, get in the tub. How am I supposed to get you clean like that?"

"Wait… _you're_ gonna give me a bath?"

"Uh-duh."

Wander flicked his gaze to the side, unsure how he was supposed to feel about that. Really, the idea was sort of uncomfortable, but if it made her happy – or if she was doing it out of kindness… "Weeell, that's awful sweet of ya, Dom… I really appreciate you helpin' out, considering it's a lil' tricky for me to do it myself." He raised his bandaged hand meaningfully.

"Wander!" She touched her palm to her heart as if scandalized by the notion she'd ever _not_ help him. "We're _friends_ , remember? Of course I'll help you in this time of need. This time of suffering. This time of _such satisfying_ pain," she laughed. "Oh man, I'm sorry – I can't even pretend to be your friend! I mean, I destroyed your entire galaxy! And you're thanking me for a _bath?_ Hahaha!" She wiped her eyes. "This is why I keep you around, Wander. So." She tilted her head to the side and grinned at him. "Ready to hop in so you don't stink up my ship?"

"Uhh…." Wander was suddenly not convinced he wanted to do anything Dominator suggested at the moment. He also wasn't sure he had any power to say no. 'Ieee meaaaan," he squeaked out, "I can prooobably bathe myself, if you just give me a little soap and-"

Dominator's hand clamped down his face. "Cute. Spare the antics for when you're begging for your life." She scruffed him like a kitten and unceremoniously tossed him into the tub.

It was immediately obvious that the tub was designed with a taller person in mind, since the water was deeper than he was tall. He plopped right beneath the surface, but almost immediately a hand wrapped around his torso. Dominator dragged him partly out of the water and pinned him to the side of the tub with her arm. "I mean, really," Dominator continued as if nothing had happened at all. "It's been like, _forever_ since I heard people screaming for their lives. You really start to miss the sound."

She grabbed the soap and began to scrub furiously at his fur – he offered no protest because at least it wasn't directly hurtful… just uncomfortable…

"Honestly," she rambled, seemingly to nobody, "life has been super lame after I destroyed all the planets…. I mean, what are you supposed to do when you already flarpin' dominated _everything_? I wish I would have at least had a challenge…"

Dominator sighed and the scrubbing thankfully slowed to something softer, almost tender. Wander sighed in relief. It was…. Weirdly vulnerable, being suspended in deep water and bathed like this. But at least now she wasn't angry on top of it.

He jumped in surprise when Dominator rested her chin on the top of his head. A-affection? Wander held very still, lest he disturb her. Dominator wasn't like the other enemies he'd made into friends. He needed to be very careful to keep things going in the right direction.

"I miss when things were _interesting_. The running in terror, the _no please not my family_ and the _oh Grop above,_ _how could you!?_ And that satisfying _crunch_ of planets squeezed to itty bitty little specs!"

Her claw-like fingers dug out a particularly persistent clump in his fur. "Now all I've got is you. Grop, this is sad." She laughed bitterly. "This is _stupid_." She moved her chin from his head, as if realizing the sentimental implications of it. "I should just kill you and move on to a new galaxy. You're just some leftover trophy from my victory. I could hang your fur on a banner or something."

Wander nearly shivered out of his skin. Dominator's motions had become soothing, a harsh contrast to her acidic words. "Y-you wouldn't wanna do that," he stumbled to say. "If ya kill me, then we couldn't be friends, and you gotta see that there's something more than all this dominatin' and destroyin'."

Her hands stilled. "Friends? Something more?" She snorted. "You're not so bad to keep around, but it's only 'cause you're fun as like, a toy or a pet, you know? I've never had a pet before."

"Never?" Wander enunciated.

"Nope! Well, I guess I had a bunny when I was a kid, but it didn't last more than three days so I don't really count that."

"Aw, I'm sorry."

Dominator chortled. "Yeah, funny thing - bunnies really don't last long when you stop feeding them."

"Oh."

A few moments of silence passed, where Wander tried to comprehend why she might want to starve a harmless bunny. But his thoughts weren't really working too straightforwardly to begin with – in fact, he felt physically and mentally kinda fuzzy.

Maybe it'd be better not to wonder about the bunny, and instead focus on more positive things. "It's real kind of you to do this, Dom." Wander gazed up at her with a smile; she gazed back expressionlessly, her lightening horns shadowing his face.

Wander chuckled nervously. "You know, this could be a scary thing, what with all the water and you holdin' me up…. But you're bein' real gentle, Dominator. I know you always wanna hurt me, but maybe that's not all you a- fhh!" any additional comment was lost to the water that Dominator swiftly dunked him under. She dragged him back up quick; Wander spat out water and flecks of blood. He laughed but it came out hoarse and scared.

"Hah, I get it, even Syl gets tired of my chatter mouth, sometimes I just can't stop, especially when I get real nervous and – not that I don't trust you, Dominator, because really I do, I think we could be great friends but –you know, there a lot hurtin' on me right now and I might just be a little worried that maybe – but really, I do trust you, I really – _don't touch there_!" his voice launched up an octave and he clenched his thighs together.

"Relax; I'm just trying to get you clean."

"This is a little beyond what friends do!" he retorted in a rising crescendo.

"Good thing we're not fr-"

A piercing noise ripped through her words and echoed in the marble room; a red light flashed like some crazy rave.

"Whu-?" Wander blinked in confusion, the changing colors making his already foggy head feel dizzier.

"Oohh, yess!" Lord Dominator leapt up, a wild grin on her face. "The alarm! Maybe something interesting is finally happening!" She bolted from the room, shrieking in excitement.

Meanwhile, Wander flailed frantically in the water before latching onto the tub's side. Oh man, he could have drowned – wait – his heart clenched tight in his chest – Sylvia! The alarm! What if it was the rebellion, here to save him and overthrow Dominator? Ohh Grop no…

Dread perfused through his veins and he nearly threw up again. He – he couldn't let them on board! He couldn't let them fall to the same fate he had! No matter what, even if it caused Dominator to kill him, he had to enable their escape!

But first… he himself had to escape from this tub.

"Unf…" His foot scrabbled uselessly against the side. Ugh, the water was so gross… At this point his fur was clean, but the water… not so much. "Okay, Wander, you can do this…" He looped his good arm over the lip of the tub, and braced his good leg against the side. "One, two….. three! Ahh!"

He did successfully launch himself over the side of the tub. He also face-planted hard into the tile floor. White spots flared in his vision as the impact sharply reminded him of his missing teeth. A stream of blood thickened the taste of iron on his tongue.

"Ungg… Gotta…. Save… Sylvia…" He pulled himself into a sitting position, but this is where he was briefly stumped. His burnt leg couldn't really carry weight…. Or at least, he hadn't really tried due to the level of pain…

His good fingers touched his cheek lightly. "But the pain here numbed a bit… maybe my leg will, too." Yeah, that sounded promising! For Sylvia!

He heaved up and balanced his weight on both legs – oh. No, no, the pain didn't numb at all – Grop, he couldn't feel half his leg, but the half he could feel stung like it was being attacked by dozens of wasps or something. But… he could do it.

Nodding in determination, Wander hastily stumbled his way out of the room, walking himself along with a hand on the wall. The control deck – that's where he needed to go. He turned a corner and came face to face with an enormous three-legged bot. Wander froze in place.

"O-oh, hi buddy, I'm just uh, just passing right through, nothin' to s-"

The bot turned away from him and continued right along its path.

Huh? It wasn't going to hurt him? Or imprison him and bring him to Dominator? _They're not going to attack unless I tell them to,_ Dominator had said…Wander's eyes widened. The bots were programmed to leave him alone!

His heart raced. That meant…. If he turned and tried to escape right now… Lord Dominator was distracted, and the bots weren't going to stop him. He had a clear road ahead.

"But I can't leave Sylvia and our friends," he said firmly, and continued towards the control deck.

The hallway may be lurching a little bit, and the pain (and reality) might be zoning in and out a little, but – but he could make it! It seemed to take eons, but he at last turned the corner into the control deck, from which raucous laughter was bursting.

"Pew pew pew," Dominator was saying gleefully, slamming buttons all around her control board. "pew pew – KABLAM, HAHAHA! Die die you puny little rats!"

A swarm of tiny ships darted in and out of sight through the windshield – but these ships weren't from Sylvia and the rebellion.

"Watchdogs," Wander gasped. Hater's henchmen were in individual ship pods, perhaps to make themselves smaller targets, and they dove and dashed and bolted every which way, working hard to avoid every laser blast Dominator sent at them.

Dominator, for her part, seemed to be having a grand time despite not hitting the majority of ships she aimed for.

"BOOM! Suck it loser!" She yelled, and at last one Watchdog ship exploded. Wander watched in horror as small flecks of blood spattered the windshield. "That's what you get for messing with the GREATEST IN THE GALAXY!"

Wander cowered towards the back of the room. How could he help the Watchdogs? He couldn't just let them get blown apart one by one…. Why had they even come in the first place?

He chewed his nails frantically before realizing that made his gums throb. Then he started tugging on his still wet fur. He needed to do something!

"Dom-in-ator, Dom-in-ator, Dom-in-ator," she chanted at the control board, and gaily exploded a second ship.

He needed to get on Hater's ship, and warn him to call off the attack! Possessed with furious determination, Wander pushed himself off the wall and staggered towards the exit. Oh Grop; no, his brain had to stop being so foggy! He forced himself forward, one step, another, left, right-

Jagged slices of pain ratcheted up and down his leg on each step, and he could barely feel from the knee down, as if he was dragging around a mannequin's leg. But he had to warn Hater! The hallway swum and he blinked in amazement.

Whoa, he didn't realize he was still underwater! But everything was twisting around so weirdly….

No! Stay focused – warn Hater! He hobbled his way past another little bot and waved at it. "Hi, tiny bot. You look _just_ like Beep Boop. I wonder if Beep Boop is around here somewhere… I bet he'd help me…" the floor lurched with a misstep and Wander nearly splatted to his face. "Ohhh, whoa! Whoopsies there, just gotta get to Hater…."

His bad leg came down wrong again, and he crashed to the floor. The world spun to black, then popped back into existence. "Whoops, clumsy me. Syl's always warning me…"

"Wander!?"

"Huh?" Wander tilted his head up. A bloody smile bloomed across his face. "Hatey! My good ol' buddy ol' pal; it's…. it's…. great to… to see you…" Wander slumped lifelessly.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Every episode ever has made it clear Sylvia can't be contained in Hater's prison but let's pretend otherwise for a second.

* * *

Wander blinked his eyes open.

His head felt full of cotton, and his body sore like he'd run a hundred miles. But he wasn't on the floor, which was weird – in fact, he lay in soft white sheets that were downright comfortable. Something he never expected to be anytime soon on Dominator's ship.

He patted the sheets and gazed around the room. Wait… this wasn't Dominator's ship…. This was the medical bay of a very different ship. His eyes settled on two wonderfully familiar individuals.

"-already been treated. The most we can do now is let him rest," Peepers was telling a very grumpy-looking Hater. "I know you're worried, sir, but we're doing everything we can."

"I'm _not_ worried for him," Hater grunted in retort.

"You don't need to worry any more!" Wander piped up. "Guess who's up and about!"

"Wander!" Commander Peepers bolted over to his bed. "How are you feeling? What hurts the most?"

"Oh, so you're not dead. Guess that's good."

"Awww Hateeeyy," Wander murmured dopily. "C'mere and give me a big hug."

"No! NO HUGS." Hater crossed his arms and looked away determinedly. "I didn't rescue you because I care. It was because …uhh…." It took Hater an embarrassing second to figure out his words, then he shouted out, "BECAUSE YOU'RE MY ENEMY! AND ONLY I CAN DEFEAT YOU! NO ONE ELSE! Yeah."

"Haaater," Wander grinned, and almost immediately regretted it. Whatever pleasant numbness he'd experienced before was entirely gone now. Instead it felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his face. "Ow…" He clutched his jaw.

"Don't move so much," Hater grunted, trying not to look concerned.

"Lord Hater is right, Wander," Peepers chimed in. "You've taken a major beating. Three missing teeth, two broken fingers, and a pretty severe burn on your leg. We're impressed you're topside at all, but you need to take it easy!"

"Aw, I'll be right as rain real quick. You guys saved me from Dominator's ship?"

"We didn't _save_ you," Hater grumbled, "We just… kidnapped you to torture you here! Hahaha!"

"We saved you," Peepers said flatly.

Wander hugged himself gleefully. Even if Dominator was a bit questionable, at least Peepers and Hater were there for him at the end of the day! "Thanks, friends!" he squealed.

"Look at what you did," Hater directed at Peepers with annoyance. "Now he's gonna take out his banjo and sing a song or something just – ugh! Let me know when he feels better so I can torture him. Because we're enemies!" Hater stalked out of the room.

Peepers turned back to Wander. "He cried when we first brought you here."

"I knew he had a soft and gooey inside," Wander replied happily. "And now that I'm all rescued, you wouldn't happen to know where Sylvia is, would you? I've gotta warn her before she starts the rebellion."

Peepers scratched the back of his helmet. "Err, well actually, we have her locked up on this ship."

"She's here?" Wander squealed, more impatient to see his friend than ever before.

"It was strictly out of necessity. Once she learned where you had gone off to, she was ready to rip apart the entire galaxy to get you back! We stopped her on the way to Dominator's ship. We knew if we let her go after Lord Dominator, she'd just end up just the same as you." Peepers eyed Wander. "Although, we didn't think you'd be in _this_ bad of shape…"

Wander laughed uneasily. "H-hey, it's all right. I'm just so glad to hear Sylvia's doin' okay. I bet she's worried sick for me, though, so I'd love to have her visit as soon as possible."

"We'll just… we'll go ahead and escort her to your bed..." Peepers turned to a Watchdog beside him. "Err, Pete? Go get Sylvia!"

Poor Pete jumped and quavered. "R-really, sir? I-I'm uh, I have other things to attend to, maybe someone else-"

"Pete, get the Zbornak!"

"Y-yes sir!" Pete scuttled out of the room.

Peepers scowled and rubbed his eye. "Ridiculous…. A couple of Watchdogs get beat up by her and all the sudden they don't want to deal with her at all. We're villains, not cowards!"

Before Wander could reply, a howl of primal rage erupted in the distance, "WAANDDDEEERR!"

This was followed by a cacophony of crashes, Watchdogs crying out, and one angry Zbornak barreling down the hallway. Thundering footsteps raced nearer, nearer - Peepers' eye widened, and then he dove beneath the bed just in time. Sylvia burst through the door, nostrils flaring and chest heaving.

"WANDER!" She shot to his bedside.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he rushed to say, "really, Syl, I'm feeling A-okay –"

"Wander," she whispered in horrified dismay. "Oh Grop, Wander, what did she do?"

"N-nothin' too bad, I swear it-"

Her hand delicately hovered over his burnt and furless leg, which now was partly wrapped with loose gauze. "Buddy …"

"She didn't mean no harm. I think she really opened up to me there at the end and we were makin' it somewhere in the friendship department-"

"And your teeth…"

"I wasn't really using 'em anyway, Syl –"

"Augh, I'm gonna pummel her into dirt!"

"No!" Wander grabbed Sylvia's hand frantically. "Don't go after her, Sylvia, please!"

"Wander, I gotta. It's way past time someone taught that no-good soulless monster a lesson. Nobody can hurt you like this and get away with it. Just wait till she sees a couple hundred pounds of Zbornak fury running at her, hah!" Sylvia flexed her biceps.

Wander placed a delicate hand on her arm. "Syl, don't leave me."

That's what did it. Her eyes softened as if her heart had just broken. "Oh Wander… Buddy, I won't leave your side, if that's what you really need."

"That's what I really need," he assured her. "Not you goin' after Domi."

She lifted him right off the bed and hugged him tight in her arms. Wander chuckled and patted her back. "Really, I'm doin' okay. Boy, it's great seein' you, Sylvia…"

"You too," Sylvia replied, voice choked up. "Don't ever ever _ever_ get on her ship again."

Wander laughed again, but this time it was a nervous one. "I uh, I don't plan on doin' that again, Sylvia." The idea alone made his legs shake. Because _yes_ he needed to make friends with her but oh Grop he didn't think he'd ever be able to approach her again.

"Good," Sylvia said, a tad sharply. She set him back on the bed. "You need to focus on gettin' better, you hear me?"

Peepers peeked his head out daringly from beneath the bed. "Uh hi, Sylvia."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes at him. "So you're the one who ordered me to get locked up, huh?"

"Uhhh…."

"Yeah, you know it's coming-" She dove at Peepers and Wander watched wide-eyed as the two exchanged blows, rolling and struggling around the medical bay.

"Guys, guys, guys!" he wailed. "This is _not_ friendshippy conduct!"

Both Peepers and Sylvia paused. "I _just_ got saved from Dominator's ship!" Wander declared. "And you guys _already_ are fightin'? Can't we do something nicer?"

"Well uh, of course Wander." Sylvia put her hands behind her back and smiled. "What did _you_ want to do?"

A grin slowly grew on his face.

* * *

"No more…" Sylvia groaned, slumping to the floor.

"Aren't you tired from your injuries?" Peepers asked desperately.

Sylvia, Wander, Peepers, and a pile of Watchdogs lay scattered amongst board games, movies, and karaoke equipment.

"Not at all!" Wander declared, voice jumping in pitch. "We should play another song! Or have a party! Or – or – or um-"

"All right, all right." Sylvia sat upright and frowned at Wander. "We've spent hours playing games and carting you around this ship. But you're still recovering, and we oughta to get you back to the med bay."

"I hate to say it, but Sylvia's right." Peepers said. "You could do with some water and rest."

"Really, I'm okay guys," Wander insisted. "I hardly feel a thing!"

"Nope,'" Sylvia shook her head.

"Doctor's orders!" Peepers agreed.

"But I'm okay!" Wander pleaded as Sylvia scooped him up.

"And you'll be even more okay after some bed rest."

Wander groaned. "I _already_ was sleeping."

"Here ya go buddy." Sylvia dumped him back into the same white-sheeted bed as before, and Wander sighed. "Now you stay put," Sylvia added firmly. "Rest and recover, got it?"

"I know, Syl," Wander sighed.

She smiled. "You're doin' good, bud. We'll come back in and check on you soon."

Sylvia and Peepers shut the door behind them, leaving the medical bay in complete silence.

Wander swallowed nervously. Sure, this was okay, too. He could handle being alone. How silly would it be if he couldn't?

A giggle erupted from his throat. Pretty silly, that's for sure. He began to tug on his fur, and accidentally pulled out a chunk of hair. "Hah, whoops. Didn't mean to do that. It's not that I'm nervous or anything." He tongued the new gap in his teeth. It was going to take some getting used to. Hanging out with Syl and the Watchdogs, he'd been able to distract himself from the injuries a little bit, but….

It was so quiet now. He froze. What if Dominator appeared? Sliding out of the shadows, eyes sly and sardonic? What would she do to him next?

Wander pulled the sheets up to his chin and quavered. No, he couldn't think about that. Sylvia wanted him to rest, and thinking about all the awful things Dominator had done wasn't going to help at all.

His eyes flicked nervously around the medical bay.

It would be fine… He would be fine.

* * *

Once they were safely out of Wander's earshot, Sylvia crossed her arms and turned to Peepers. "All right, so what's the plan?"

"Plan?"

"For taking out Dominator!" Sylvia exclaimed. "What other plan would I be talkin' about?"

"My last idea ended up with her getting ice powers," Peepers muttered. "What about you – I thought you had a plan?"

"Look, we were working on a plan before Wander up and – wandered off! But we didn't get to the whole finished product!"

"Well, then what did you come up with?"

Sylvia huffed. "Uhh, nuthin. Yet."

"Argh," Peepers slapped a hand to his eye. "How are we supposed to attack Dominator without a plan!?"

"What about you? Hater snuck on her ship to get Wander, didn't he?"

"Well, that's true…"

"So how'd you pull it off? If we can sneak past the bots again and get close to Dominator…"

"Just one little problem - Hater never snuck past the bots."

Sylvia rubbed her head in frustration. "Then, how'd he get to Wander?"

"That's the thing – he never came across any bots!"

"So you're telling me outta her entire flarpin' bot army, Hater never came across a single bot on her ship?"

"Right."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sylvia muttered. "I've seen Dominator's control deck – she's got cameras all over the place. She would have seen him coming the second he got on her ship."

"I can't explain it, either. But he didn't have any trouble getting himself in, or getting Wander out. I was in contact with Lord Hater the entire time."

"Oh, that gives me a bad feeling…" Sylvia shook her head grimly.

"You don't think…. She let us take Wander?"

"All I know is we gotta keep Dominator as far from Wander as we can." Sylvia's fist clenched in anger. "I've got an idea, Peepers, but you can't share a word of it with Wander. He'll just try to stop us."


	6. Chapter 6

When Sylvia returned, Wander did his best to pretend like he had slept the entire time in her absence. Sure, he had actually been tearing out fur from the top of his head, but he made sure to only pluck from where he could hide it beneath his hat.

"Hey buddy," Sylvia said, with the smile of a kindergarten teacher. "The Watchdogs prepared a whole feast for you! It's got a ton of jellyfish pie!"

"Ah, there's something other than jellyfish pie, right?"

"Don't worry, bud. I made _sure_ they had that weird salad fru fru stuff you eat." Her eyes softened with fondness. "I really missed you, Wander."

"I missed you too," Wander went in for the hug and Sylvia wrapped her arms around him. Wander sighed. This is what he missed… Sylvia didn't ever say one thing and mean another; she didn't ever pretend to be affectionate and then yank it away into pain. She was blunt but always genuine, always caring.

"So, about that dinner?" Wander asked, pulling away.

"Right this way, bud." She scooped him into the saddle and started down the hall. "Look, if you need anything cut up in smaller bites, or if you need liquids, something soft – you just let me know, all right?"

Wander nodded. "No problem! But I really think it'll be okay. It doesn't hurt too bad!"

"C Peeps did say you were healin' way faster than anyone he's seen before." Sylvia shot him a curious glance over her shoulder. "But I don't think you're gonna get those teeth back."

She said in a strange way, as if she somehow felt to blame for his missing teeth. "Hey Syl, like I said, I didn't need them all anyway!"

Sylvia shook her head. "Kiddo, your worldview is sometimes such a mystery to me."

She brought him to the cafeteria-like area on Hater's ship, where a mass of Watchdogs was already eagerly gathered. The tables had all been dragged together to make one massive table in the middle of the floor, and upon this table the Watchdogs had proudly arranged a veritable feast of food. Wander's jaw dropped.

Sylvia smiled back at him. "They remember how much you've helped them all, Wander."

Wander squealed. "It's perfect!" He hadn't had a full meal since before he ended up on Dominator's ship. The only thing he'd eaten since then had been… no, don't think about that.

Sylvia set him tenderly on a chair and then sat beside him. "Like I said, if you need anything done, or want anything that's not here, you just let us know."

"This looks great! And there's no better way to enjoy a meal than when you're surrounded by people you care about." Wander grinned at the table of Watchdogs and Sylvia – but far too many of them flicked their huge eyes at the gap in his teeth, and Wander internally cringed. He really wished his injuries weren't so blatantly obvious. He didn't need any sort of special treatment – he was just happy to be around Sylvia and the Watchdogs again.

Sylvia piled her plate with jellyfish pie, while Wander selected primarily vegetables and fruits.

He nibbled a bit of lettuce curiously, and when it didn't cause him too much trouble, he quickly dove into the meal.

Eating really wasn't so bad, so long as he chewed only with the left side of his mouth. His growling hunger pushed him through eating two plates of food, even though by the end his gums were unhappily throbbing, and he was pretty sure a bit of food got stuck in his torn roots, which meant he'd have to spend some time working it out later. But really, that wasn't so bad.

"Hey, Wander." Sylvia gave a gentle smile, one suggesting that he'd shatter under any other expression. "Dinner wasn't the only thing planned."

"Really?"

"Really really." She turned to a cautious expression. "If you're not ready to keep eating, though, don't feel any pressure to."

"I can handle more," Wander patted his belly. "It's been a little while since I last ate so I got a lotta room!"

Sylvia winced, and Wander internally berated himself. Don't make comments about his time on the ship! There wasn't any need to worry Sylvia more!

"Well, we knew how much you like cake," Sylvia said, "so we thought you might enjoy a nice slice of cake after dinner!"

"Whu-?"

Several Watchdogs trotted out with a large strawberry cake borne above their heads.

Oh… Wander swallowed uneasily as the sweet smell wafted over. Right. Dinner and dessert.

The Watchdogs plopped the cake down right before Wander.

"Ta-daa!" Sylvia declared.

"Looks delicious!" Wander said, trying to sound encouraging.

"Here, I'll getcha a slice." Sylvia cut out a thin slice, mindful of the fact his chewing was still a bit delicate. This slice she slapped down in front of him, and he stared at it.

"Oh. Wow, thanks guys," Wander forced a smile and hoped it didn't look as strained as it felt. Really, they took the time to make this great cake for him, and there wasn't any good reason he shouldn't eat it. Sure, there was the unpleasant memories with Dominator, but that had been under a completely different context… here he was surrounded by friends, and he could manage at least a couple bites for them, right?

He grabbed a fork with his good hand and speared it into the cake. Pink guts squelched around the tines.

 _Come on, Wander, you can do it._

"Everything all right there, Wander?" Sylvia broke in.

"All right?" Wander squeaked. "Sure Syl, everything's great! I am doin' just fine, no problem here."

Sylvia's expression furrowed. Ooh, he didn't want to upset her after she and the Watchdogs put so much effort into this dessert! He could do just one bite. The spoon hovered nearer to his lips.

 _Just… one…_ He slurped up the sugary cake.

Immediately he gagged, but he clamped his lips shut and told himself firmly, _no! you can swallow this and tell Sylvia it's delicious and -_

He half scrambled - half fell off his chair, and lost every bit of the dessert (and a good part of his dinner) to the floor.

Sylvia immediately was at his side. "Whoa, whoa Wander…. Jeez, I'm sorry buddy… Maybe the dessert was a little too much on top of dinner."

Her soothing hand rubbed his back. But the shudders had started crawling up and down his spine. Throw up on the floor, the icky sickly sweet taste of strawberry, this was all very familiar;

 _You heard me. Lick it off._

"Wander? Wander, are you okay?"

 _Clean it up!_

Wander tried to form reassuring words, but nothing came out of his mouth. His heart beat so fast that he was stricken by the fear it would quit working altogether. When his lungs also clenched and refused to expand, he became certain that they were no longer functional, that Dominator had done something to him that made all his organs fail.

"Wander, talk to me!"

Spots flashed in front of his vision and he gasped once sharply – he couldn't pass out! He couldn't freak Sylvia out! He scrambled backward and forced a huge grin to let her know he was completely okay.

Unfortunately, this didn't have the desired effect. In fact, it seemed to make her more worried. "Oh flarp, come here buddy-" And she scooped him right up. For half a second, Wander froze, because that was exactly what Lord Dominator had done and _how could he be sure he was really off her ship, and this wasn't some elaborate trick –_

But then one gaze into Sylvia's eyes stilled him. There was no mistaking her honesty, her sincerity, and the strength of their friendship. This was Sylvia, and not any trick from Dominator. "Hey, you're safe now," Sylvia said, worry heavy in her expression. "You're with me now, not her."

"M-maybe I am havin' a bit of trouble," he confessed.

"No kiddin' bud. You let me know if something is unpleasant… _before_ it gets that bad, all right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Wander giggled.

Sylvia ruffled his hair roughly. "I'm not messing around, Wander! I mean, you don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna, but at least warn me if something we're doing reminds you of her."

"Sorry," Wander giggled again, "I'm just so happy to be back with you, and back with Hatey and the Watchdogs."

Sylvia deadpanned. "Can't say that last bit makes any sense, but whatever makes you happy."

Wander wrapped his arms around Sylvia and snuggled into her. He tried not to pay attention to the fact that any kind of pressure on his face – even his cheek pressed to the comforting warmth of Sylvia – flared up the pain in his gums again.

"Even if I can't beat her into pulp – yet," Sylvia tacked on darkly, "I can at least look after you, Wander. No matter what flarpin' mess she put you through, I'll be here with you every step, from here on. You hear me? You're safe with your best bud here at your side. I'll keep off anyone wanting to hurt you."

Over Wander's head, Sylvia met Peepers' eye, and they exchanged solemn glances.


	7. Chapter 7

"This is a terrible idea," muttered Peepers.

Sylvia scoffed. "It's the only idea we've got. Anyway…" She clenched her fists. "If it gives me an opportunity to punch _her_ teeth in, I'll take it."

"Just remember this isn't only for you to get some hits on Dominator," Peepers said nervously. "We need to stop Dominator at her very source, and make sure she never can destroy another planet!"

"Yeah, yeah, it was my own plan! _You_ take care of sabotaging her computer systems. _I'll_ distract Dominator."

"And me, too!" Hater chirped.

Sylvia smacked her face. "Ugh, does he have to come?"

"Lord Hater was one of the greatest villains out there, and he's the only one Dominator hasn't ever trapped! You're going to need him if you want to go against Dominator."

" _Need_ is a strong word," Sylvia muttered as Hater flexed and puffed up his chest magnificently.

"Anyway, we're coming within range of Dominator's ship." Peepers bolted to the control board and tapped anxiously at the keys. "Just a few more minutes. Remember: Hater and Sylvia, you head straight for Dominator's control deck! The Watchdogs will flank you and provide reinforcements. I will go with a small crew to the core of the ship and attempt to dismantle it. The rest of the Watchdogs stay and guard Wander. Ready?"

"Oh, I'm ready," Sylvia narrowed her eyes at the horrible ship coming into view. She'd never been more ready for anything in her life. After seeing what Dominator did to Wander…

A sliver of worry snaked through her heart – Wander was going to be all right… wasn't he? – but she pushed it away forcefully. She needed to focus on her task, absolutely and wholly.

"Here we go…." Peepers said, dread in his voice as Dominator's ship reared ever more huge and intimidating in the windshield.

Hater's ship sidled closer, and closer, and still no lasers fired at them.

"Your theory was right," Peepers exclaimed with no small amount of surprise, "she really is letting us close!"

Disgruntled, Sylvia said, "she knows she's got an advantage. She wants to play with us like a stinkin' cat with a mouse. We're gonna give her one nasty surprise."

"I sure hope so."

* * *

The moment they stepped onto Dominator's ship, it was a battlefield. A swarm of Dombots came spinning from all directions and the cavernous space resonated with the sound of guns whirring to life.

Immediately Sylvia set to fighting them off with her enhanced gloves, while Hater zapped his way through the bots in droves.

"How many… flarpin' bots… does she have?" Sylvia seethed.

Hater yelled out behind her, and Sylvia whirled around just in time to glimpse the villain crash to the floor beneath a launched Dombot.

One whaling punch into the Dombot's optics, and it went flying off Hater.

The villain stood and brushed off his outfit dismissively. "I was uh, about to do that. I don't need your help!"

"Ugh." Sylvia rolled her eyes and sent another bot flying. "Would it kill you to say thanks for once?"

"I'm the Duke of Destruction! The Monarch of Mayhem! AUGH!" Emphasizing his point, Hater lit up the hallway with splinters of green lightening; wrecked bot parts sprayed everywhere, and Sylvia just barely dodged a flying metal shard.

"I thank no one!" Hater boomed, fists trembling in mighty rage. Seeing the destruction his single attack caused, the villain's expression morphed into a smug grin. "Oh yeah, look who's the greatest, it's Hater, greatest in the galaxy –" he launched into a moonwalk.

"All right, great," Sylvia muttered. "While you do that, I'm gonna take down Dominator." She punched her fist through another oncoming robot, then bolted down the hallway.

"Hey, not fair!" Hater yelled after her, and Sylvia heard him running in pursuit.

Hah – but not much in the entire universe could outrun _her_. She kicked and punched, dove and dodged, all while working her way deeper into the ship. She wanted to see Dominator's flarpin' face first – so she could punch it in.

More and more bots swarmed into the hall, but Sylvia bent all her energy into working past them.

At last she burst into a new room – one with a huge windshield, a control board, and most importantly…

"Hey, Sylvia, isn't it?" Dominator drawled. "Grop, it took you long enough. Set the bots on the weakest setting, I thought; they'd get through them quickly, I thought. Ugh!"

Sylvia skidded to a halt, fists at the ready but eyes cautious. "You were… waiting for me to come here?"

"Uh-duh! Did you seriously just ask that? There's only like, a few of you losers _left_ in this galaxy; I can't let my bots just wipe you all out!"

Sylvia gritted her teeth together. This didn't change anything. She was going to take Dominator down! It was now or never. Growling, Sylvia lunged, ready to punch Dominator's face in and teach that Grop-darned villain a lesson –

She didn't make it halfway before one huge lava-enhanced hand slammed down on her from above.

"Hrk!" Sylvia thumped against the floor hard.

"Oh this is too good!" Dominator cackled, and another lava hand seized Sylvia.

"Let me go, let me go!" Sylvia growled, "Once I get loose, I'll pummel you to bits!"

Dominator laughed. "Oh wow, I'm so scared. One little Zbornak against all my bots and me? Hah!"

"I'm not any old Zbornak," Sylvia said darkly.

"Oh, I know." Dominator smirked. "Don't you remember our fun night out? I really respected your fighting skills. Too bad you ended up being such a lousy sap!"

"If having a decent conscious makes me a sap, than I'd rather be the sappiest sap than you any day!"

"And _that's_ why you're so boring." The lava hand constricted tighter around Sylvia. "But I'm not going to kill you yet. I've got a better use for you. My little friend Wander is very attached to you…"

"You're not gonna get anywhere near Wander again!"

Dominator tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Don't some cultures eat horse? Wander could be the first to try Zbornak!"

"GRAAUGH!" Sylvia punched her way out of the lava, only for it to reform tighter around her body.

"Wow, I thought you would have learned your lesson the first time," Dominator drawled. "I guess there's no limit to how stupid the bunch of you can be."

"I'm…." she yanked at her restraints. "Going to…." She took a deep collecting breath. "destroy… YOU!" Sylvia burst out of the Volcanium X and lunged, Lady Haymaker cocked back to strike.

Not a second later, she clunked to the ground in a thick block of ice, her arm frozen in place.

Dominator filed her nails. "Oh, was that supposed to actually do something?"

"Grop, flarpin, flab drassit…"

Dominator sniggered. "I was going to say that I might have wanted more of a challenge out of this galaxy, but watching you all flop around literally got me outta bed in the mornings. It's like you're _trying_ to be funny!"

Sylvia wrenched her jaw open, prepared to lash another insult at Dominator, when there was the sound of a door-sized hole opening up in the wall.

Dominator and Sylvia both paused and looked towards the new entrance.

None other than Lord Hater stalked through, electricity crackling at his fists. He stood at his full height, not a slump to be seen. Behind him lay a pile of wrecked bot parts.

"Finally, you useless stinkin' –" A lava tab slapped itself around Sylvia's mouth.

Dominator settled into a languid, seductive stance, and her eyes flicked pointedly up and down Hater's body. "Hey, Hater," she purred.

"Uh – uh…" Hater sweated, and the electricity sparked out of existence.

"Mfhfh!" Sylvia screamed from behind her gag. Her tail beat against the floor in frustration. Grop darnit, trust Hater of all people to ruin this plan they had made!

Dominator stepped in front of Sylvia smoothly. "Ignore her. You single-handedly fought off my bot army, didn't you? Not any man could do something like that…. I'm impressed."

"I uh, yeah, I - I did that!"

"Wow." Dominator smiled coyly. "I really underestimated you… Maybe you are really strong, and really powerful…." She neared, and a gloved finger trailed down Hater's arm.

"Um – pretty lady – hi."

Dominator tilted her head to the side. "Why don't you and I talk about conquering the next galaxy… together?"

"Rrrr!" Sylvia could barely watch this train wreck.

"T-together? Us?"

"That's right. Wanna have some alone time?"

"Yes!" Hater yelled, then coughed into his fist. In a much deeper voice, he added, "I mean, yes. Yes, of course."

"That's a good boy. Follow me. The Zbornak will be fine here."

"But – hands!" Hater yelled.

"What?"

"Holding," Hater corrected. "Holding hands. Please?" He waggled his outstretched fingers with the most pitifully hopeful look on his face.

"NO no nono!" Sylvia chanted – but it came out as a muffled set of indistinguishable protests. _Why_ did they have to bring Hater on board?

Dominator's eyes lidded, unamused. "Fine. Whatever." She held out her hand. "Come on."

Hater made a high pitched squeal that had Sylvia wanting to thump her forehead to the floor. He wiggled his fingers, reached out his hand – their palms met, and fingers laced.

"There, isn't that sweet?" Dominator said. It was so painfully obvious she wanted nothing more than to rip his arm off, and that she had every intention of doing so the moment she had him alone.

"Wait," Hater interjected.

"What _nooow_?" whined Dominator.

Hater's mouth twisted into his most villainous sneer. "This is for rejecting ME, the GREATEST IN THE GALAXY!"

Dominator had just enough time to let out a confused, "huh?" before green lightening roared to life and raked up her arm. She ripped away with a wounded yowl, but Hater lunged after her.

"SORRY-FOR-PUNCHING-YOU-'CAUSE-YOU'RE-A-GIRL!" he screamed as his charged fist collided hard with Dominator's dazed face.

"HAH!" Sylvia burst out beneath the lava tab as Dominator's skinny legs went flailing into the air like a downed giraffe. She landed hard and skidded a couple feet across the floor. Sylvia couldn't do anything to stop the delirious laughter that exploded from her chest because oh _Grop_ Hater had just decked her across half the room, and Sylvia had never seen anything so fantastic in her entire life!

Hater directed the next lightning blast at the ice encasing Sylvia, freeing her.

"Haha!" Sylvia leapt up. "Aw, Grop – Hate's great, best villain!"

Hater puffed up his chest proudly.

Dominator, looking decidedly more frayed, crawled to her feet. "You…. You tricked me!"

A healthy-sized bruise was forming on her cheek, and her helmet was tilted half off her head – Sylvia had never seen a more satisfying sight in her life.

They glimpsed her expression distorted with fury before the metal face plate slammed down, and before them stood Dominator in her full suit, much taller, and much angrier.

"I will destroy-" The ship rattled. Lights flickered. For a deliciously satisfying moment, Sylvia witnessed Dominator uncertain.

Sylvia bit out smugly, "Not so sure about yourself now, are you?"

Dominator turned that emotionless green visor to Sylvia. "It won't be a problem."

Her fingers expertly navigated the control panel; before long a video feed appeared that depicted Peepers near the lava core of the ship, swarmed by bots.

A deep laugh started in her chest. "So…. I gotta thank you dorks… for putting yourselves exactly where I can mess with you all!"


	8. Chapter 8

Wander wiggled his foot. He tugged at his fur. He flitted his eyes around the room.

Gosh, Sylvia and Peepers had been gone an awfully long time. It sure felt like forever. But he also wasn't doing too good by himself lately, so maybe he was a tad biased there. Really, they were probably just – hanging out with the Watchdogs and havin' a grand old time, and he was simply overreacting. A shadow moved in the corner and he yelped out. On a closer look, there was nothing there. Overreacting. That was all.

"Just… doin fine, nuthin' wrong. Syl and Mister Peepers will be back any time now. Any time. Any… Time…"

He jumped to find another pile of fur fisted in his one good hand. Oops, that wasn't – he hadn't meant to do that. Wander nervously patted the side he'd torn it from – okay, not too noticeable, that was fine. He just didn't want to worry Sylvia, that was all…. Nervously he tucked the fur beneath his pillow – he could throw it in the trash later when he was better at walking…

His tongue toyed nervously at the gaps in his teeth. They didn't hurt so much anymore, so that was a big plus.

 _Did you say I'm hurting you? You're mistaking me for somebody who cares!_

Wander shuddered. What could he do now? He had to show Dominator the good deep inside her, but… he was terrified that he would never be to work up the courage to face her again.

"Hey, Wander."

It only took those two words to freeze every bone in his body. Her tone made it imminently clear that she was in a playful mood. _But she wasn't supposed to be on this ship._ She wasn't supposed to be anywhere _near_ this ship. A tiny throttled whimper squeezed from his throat.

"Aw, no need for that," Dominator simpered, draping herself against the doorframe. Wander didn't know how long she had been there. "Aren't you happy to see me? Aren't we _friends_?"

Yes? No? What was the safe answer? He couldn't think selfishly, no - what answer could help her? _That's_ what he needed. "Dominator," he squeaked, and his throat worked as if to form additional words, helping words, but golly something just wasn't working quite right and any extra syllables got all jammed up somewhere in him.

"Are you seriously shaking? Poor little _loser_." Chortling, Dominator sauntered up to his bed, and he cringed back against the mattress. "Come on, shh…. No need to be so scared." She didn't stop at his bedside. Oh no, that would be too humane. Instead she crawled right onto the sheets with feline grace. An arm slithered around his tiny shoulders. "Come on, aren't you excited to see me?"

Fingers stroked his shoulder in a mockery of affection. This close, Wander glimpsed every freckle dotted across her cheeks. Wait… "Wh-what happened?" he whispered.

"What?" Dominator hissed.

"Your…" Wander reached with his good hand, as if to tenderly caress the bruise that extended from her left eye down to her jaw. That… looked like it really hurt…

"Stop!" Dominator grabbed his hand and pinned it at his side so fast that Wander feared she would crush the bones there, too.

His mouth went dry as a probable cause for the bruise occurred to him. "D-Dominator… wh-where's Sylvia?"

That question launched Dominator right back into her confident attitude, even if it was a little rushed, a little frantic, "Sylvia? Gosh, I just can't seem to remember who that name belongs to…. Oh! Wait – it's the Zbornak you drag everywhere. The girl who keeps you outta trouble."

"Where is she?" Wander whimpered.

"Gee, you know what?" Pointy fingers tapped Wander's shoulder. "I just saw her not too long ago. Aboard _my_ ship."

Horror drenched his insides. He clutched her shirt, "please don't hurt her, Domi, she doesn't deserve nuthin' bad! Don't y'remember that fun night y'had with her?"

"I remember how she ended up being too much of a wimp to do anything _really_ fun. She's not really worth much, is she?"

"Now that is NOT okay to say!" Wander burst out, his fear abruptly gone. Wearing his most stern of faces, he added, "Sylvia's strong 'n smart, and she's the most best friend ya'd ever meet! She's worth every galaxy I visited before I met her!"

"Aw, gee, I guess I didn't see it that way."

Wander hesitated. "Really?" he asked, with little true hope behind it.

"Yeah," Dominator simpered, and once upon a time Wander would have taken that as a step in the right direction – but now he recognized her tone far too well, and he immediately wanted to get far, far away. He weakly scooted back, but his ruined leg didn't let him get far before Dominator's fist wrapped around his ankle.

"A-ah," he whimpered, those fingers unsettlingly close to his burnt flesh.

"I mean, I knew she meant a lot to you, but it's downright _adorable_ hearing you say it out loud. Wanna watch me skin her alive?"

"NO!" Wander wrapped his hands around Dominator's wrist. "No, NO!" His voice twisted into a shriek. "YOU WON'T DO THAT TO HER!"

"Who's gonna stop me? _You?"_

"YES!" Wander beat his tiny fists against her arm and kicked out his good leg.

Dominator laughed. "Wow, the galaxy's hero."

"You're NOT going to hurt Sylvia!"

Dominator had to admit, his voice could get into some intimidating growl-y ranges… if not for the fact his Southern accent weakened the effect. And his punches… actually kind of hurt. Ugh, what a pain. "Hah, as if you could do anything to stop me! Look how pitiful you are; you couldn't even hurt a stupid little bug with those hits!"

Her fist tightened on his ankle and something high-pitched and animalistic stumbled from his throat. "D-don't break it, don't –"

He struggled weakly as she dragged him closer, and her second hand wrapped around his throat.

"You couldn't do _anything_ if I hurt Sylvia right in front of you."

"Please, stop –hnk-" her thumb flattened his throat to the mattress. Breathing suddenly became very very difficult.

"I mean, do you even notice how tiny and adorable you are? And you think you're gonna save her? Hah!"

He tried to squeeze out words but nothing came through. "Mmh!" His back arched against the sheets, his leg kicked frantically, and his hands scrambled at Dominator's lethal grip. But she was unmovable, silent as death.

In fact, despite the opportunity to cram in more awful taunts and insults, Dominator was suspiciously silent. Through watering eyes, Wander glimpsed her expression: it was… an odd one. An unnatural one.

A very small smile played at her lips. She looked…. Hypnotized. Enraptured by watching what could be the last seconds of his life. The look could be mistaken for affection, if its recipient wasn't currently having the life choked out of him.

But he had no time for dwelling on that. Wander's limbs acted of their own accord, kicking and thrashing in disregard of all his injuries. The pain didn't even register through the black blotchy haze beginning to overtake his vision.

"Mfh…" his protests weakened. Her grip seemed to only strengthen, flattening his windpipe so not a single breath of air could sneak through. Meanwhile, his head felt full, hot. Everything went fuzzy, warm, distant. Dark.

Then just dark.

An indeterminate time later, he became aware that he had limbs. He knew this because they tingled strangely. He was also _breathing_ , and that was very, very important - that was way more important than the pain in his throat.

Other more confusing sensations tumbled in: Dominator's hand loosely circled around his throat; a weight over his torso and legs; something tickling the fur on his face. And - shock zapped through his system – there were lips. On – on his mouth. _Smooching him_!

Wander's eyes shot wide open.

Again he could see every little freckle across her face, as well as the outline of that awful bruise, and even her eyelashes and a strand of hair that had escaped her helmet. Her own eyes were closed. She…. She…. _Dominator_ was – but she didn't _like_ him – why would she – why was she- ?

The villain shifted slightly on top of him, and huffed out a heavier breath. _Oh_ grop – was he supposed to kiss back? – except she was so terrifying and he – well, he liked her sure because she could be a friend if she just – but not like this – _friends_ didn't – teeth scraped against his lip.

With a weasel-like screech, Wander launched himself away; the bed vanished from beneath him and he hit the floor hard. "Oomph! Ow…"

Belatedly, he realized that really wasn't the gentlemanly way to handle the situation but at the same time this was _Dominator_ and Grop, he hadn't been prepared for that at all – he didn't even know how to handle it now that it was done!

He rubbed his sore throat, and Dominator's shadow fell over him as she peered over the side of the bed. "I-I'm sorry," he said hoarsely. "I-it wasn't bad or nothin', I just – do you – does that mean - you want t'date me?"

"Ew, no, why would I want to do that?" Dominator shrugged and wiped her mouth. "Anyway, that wasn't as good as I was hoping. Grop, you have _so_ much fur. It's really disgusting."

"I-I thought th-that was real nice of ya," Wander said meekly, gazing up. It was better than breaking bones or tearing out teeth or burning flesh – well, aside from the part she only smooched him after nearly throttling him to death but – "D-do y'like me?"

"Sure," Dominator said, crossing her arms. "You're my favorite little loser. Want an award?"

This didn't make sense. She was still being her usual self. You kissed people when you were in love, right, and that meant you shouldn't be so mean, but…

Dominator laughed harshly. "Oh man, you look so confused. Come on twerp, don't break your tiny brain over it. You just looked cute and I felt like doing it." Her expression scrunched up. "Really didn't think about the fur, though. Bluh."

Wander gaped wordlessly at her. She just…felt like it?

"Hey, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I removed all the skin from your face. No fur!" Dominator chortled. "Oh man, actually, that would be so much grosser."

Wander looked towards the door and contemplated running for it.

"Anyway," Dominator continued cheerfully. "We're saving the skinning for Sylvia, right?"

"No!" Wander whipped his head around to meet her eyes. What could he do to convince her? What could possibly sway her from this course of action? She…. She sure liked messing with him so maybe if… He solidified his resolution. "If y'let her go, you can do anything y'want to me!"

"Anything?" echoed Dominator wickedly, and Wander's resolve faltered. Her red eyes gleamed. "You'll let me do anything to you?"

"Wh-what exactly did y'have in mind?" Wander dared to ask.

"Well gosh, I didn't think about that!" Dominator tapped her lips. "Who even knows what I could do! Maybe I'll fill your lungs with lava, Wander." She switched to a mocking accent, "then will ya sing me a song 'bout friendship an' love?"

Tears prickled his eyes and he was certain he'd never been so scared before in his life. Still he met Dominator's eyes. "If I go with you, will y'promise to let Sylvia go?"

"Absolutely," she whispered.

Wander swallowed hard. He raised one quivering hand. "Th-then I'll do it."


	9. Chapter 9

One of the first things Dominator had done was separate Sylvia, Hater, and Peepers, and stick them each in individual cells on the ship. Sylvia liked to pretend this was because Dominator feared them all three being in the same cell, but knowing Dominator it was equally likely she did it just to make them feel more hopeless and alone.

Whatever reason for it, Sylvia immediately set herself to the task of breaking out.

Unfortunately – and unsurprisingly – she found that escaping Dominator's 'prison' was just about as futile as it had been the first time. The best chance seemed to be punching through a wall and darting through it before it could reform. However, Dominator must have changed something about the ship's design and behavior, because every time she tried to squeeze through a hole, lava rock physically grabbed her and threw her back into the cell before sealing itself back into bars or a wall.

After the second… third… or maybe tenth… attempt to do this, Sylvia finally elected to sit aside and plan rather than breaking bones trying to get out.

That meant nothing was left to distract her from just how _unsettling_ Dominator's ship was. It perpetually hummed a deep, rumbling noise, perhaps evidence of machinery at work deep in the ship, and as a result, the floor vibrated. It was only a small vibration, and not enough to notice if you weren't thinking about it. But once Sylvia noticed, she couldn't _un_ notice, and it made her feel like the ground beneath her feet wasn't secure.

Additionally, if she pressed her ear to the wall, she could hear the lava slithering through artificial pipes and tubes, pumped to all sections of the ship from its heated core. Sylvia shuddered. Organic. The ship had veins.

She hated this place. She hated being stuck here. Most of all, she hated that Dominator was likely dragging Wander out of the Skullship right at this moment.

Gritting her teeth, Sylvia punched the wall again – yet again, it broke through easily, and yet again, it reformed.

"Gotta give Dominator points for having the MOST ANNOYING PRISON EVER!" Sylvia directed to the cell bars. She huffed and crossed her arms.

"Wow, thanks!" a frustratingly familiar voice chirped from a distance down the hall.

Sylvia surged to her feet and pressed her face to the bars, "Let me outta here, you monster!"

"Mmm, nope." Dominator's footsteps were approaching; half of Sylvia had the sense to be afraid, but the other half was too furious to even approach fear.

"Grrr… I swear I'm gonna - … _Wander_?"

Dominator stepped into view, and one little Star Nomad limped at her heels, clutching her skirt for balance. Dominator stopped abruptly, leading Wander to nearly fall over her shoe; he frantically grasped at her skirt to righten himself, and smiled weakly at Sylvia. "H-hi Sylvia."

"Wander!" Sylvia banged her fists against the bars. "Get away from him, you creep!"

Dominator chuckled. "Wow, you put up such an argument! I was going to torture him for fun, but now that you said that, I guess I'll leave him alone."

"Rraaaugh!" Sylvia snarled. "When I get outta this prison, I'm gonna rip you limb from limb!"

Dominator gasped. "Such violence!"

"Sylvia, don't," Wander looked up from his shoes mournfully. One leg he placed only a fraction of his weight on. "Please don't – just – find another galaxy, find another friend, and don't come back here."

"Wander, what in the FLARPIN GALAXY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!"

"Oh man, I need popcorn to watch this drama unfold," giggled Dominator. She formed a lava chair and sat at the edge of the seat.

"I'm talkin' about you havin' a good life," Wander said, his voice strained. "You've been the best of friends t'me, Syl." He scuffed the sole of his shoe mournfully. "Before y'go, I just wanted to let you know I'm real grateful –"

"YOU SHUT YOUR GOB RIGHT NOW WHAT IS THIS ABOUT ME GOING ANYWHERE!?"

Wander winced. "I knew y'wouldn't take it well, but – " The star nomad forced a smile. "Do it for me at least, Syl? So I know you're okay?"

Sylvia growled lowly, "Wander, you better not have some stupid idea up your sleeve about martyring yourself…."

"Oh, he does," Dominator interrupted gleefully. "Get this, _Syl._ He came up with the idea all in his own – I have permission to do whatever I want to him, under the condition I set you free!"

Sylvia turned a shade of red, and suddenly the entire hall shook with the number of curses and swears and half-coherent screaming that Sylvia unleashed. Dominator watched with lazy amusement, while Wander seemed to be trying to make himself tinier and tinier, as if to sink right into the floor.

Finally, Sylvia cooled herself down, nostrils still flaring. Through gritted teeth she uttered, "No. No deal. I don't agree."

"Sylvia," Wander whined, having enough mindfulness of his friend's feelings to keep it at a diminutive squeak. It didn't help him at all, as Sylvia rounded on him.

"And you! Ohh buddy I am -"

"What are ya gonna offer in return?" Dominator interrupted. She was by now laying with her belly on the seat, her feet kicking childishly in the air, and her chin resting on her palm.

"Huh?"

"You said no deal, right?" Dominator pointed out. "So I mean, persuade me. I'm totally up for bargaining. Give me something good enough, and I'll let Wander go."

Sylvia opened her mouth wide, fury contorted in her expression at Dominator's vile nature – and then she paused. An awful thought flitted into her mind and grop, she wished it hadn't. She wished it had never occurred to her. But she did have something that would interest Dominator. Something that would interest her very very much. One big awful secret.

Wander would never ever _ever_ forgive her. But if it meant he survived….

"What is it?" Dominator, evidently, had caught on. "What do you have?"

Sylvia would do it to save Wander. That's what the awful thing was, the awful thing twisting in her gut. Because she would do it to save Wander, in a heartbeat.

But she didn't have one lick of trust for Dominator. Flarp, she knew exactly what Dominator would do – keep Wander, keep Sylvia, and destroy the secret planet without a second thought.

Sylvia screwed her mouth shut. Fine. She wasn't sharing a single thing to Dominator. She'd find another way.

Unfortunately it was at this moment that Wander looked up, and his gaze traveled between Dominator and Sylvia. He had no idea she had resolved not to tell. All he had seen was that she'd been considering it. A desperate involuntary " _don't"_ fluttered weakly from him.

Dominator slowly maneuvered herself back to a normal sitting position, danger in every line of her body. "Don't what?" she purred.

Wander didn't say another word.

Dominator's vermillion eyes snaked to Sylvia. "You were going to say something. You had an idea of what to give me."

"Don't be stupid," Sylvia muttered gruffly, crossing her arms. "There's nothing left in this flarpin' galaxy, 'cause YOU destroyed it all!"

There was a long stretch of silence. As every second dragged by, Sylvia got more and more nervous.

"So fine," Sylvia broke in, trying to inject more confidence than she felt. "I can't offer anything for Wander, are you happy? Gonna rub it in?"

Dominator still said nothing, and Sylvia's heart hammered in her throat. She could see Wander's composure slipping; his eyes beginning to tear, his good hand clutching fearfully at his fur. Sylvia needed to steer things in a better direction, _now._

She forced herself to sound fierce, in control, "But you know what? I'm not leaving this galaxy, and I'm not leaving Wander alone! I'll tell you what's gonna happen: I'm gonna bust my way outta here, and take Wander with me – and grop, even Hater – and get him someplace safe and far from you. Then I'm going to come back and kick your –" she flittered her eyes to Wander briefly. "I'm gonna punch your face in."

"No. You're going to tell me what you were hiding."

Flarp. "Trust me, I wish I was hiding something you'd like," Sylvia grunted.

Dominator smiled. "Wow, how did you know I _love_ games?" Her hand shot out and grabbed Wander. She wrangled him down onto her lap, and thick lava tendrils wound around him to cement him in place. One lava tab sealed his mouth shut, and panic erupted in his eyes.

Sylvia shuddered to watch him squirm and fight off something he was helpless to escape.

The star nomad's struggles ceased very very abruptly when a lethally thin icicle formed in Dominator's hand. She dangled this makeshift weapon teasingly over Wander's thigh, just above the charred flesh she had previously left. "Tell me or I'll stick this in his leg," she said, with far too much excitement.

Sylvia sucked in a breath. Wander met her gaze and shook his head, _don't tell don't tell!_ "Look, Dominator, let's just sit back and think about things, okay? I-"

Dominator didn't hesitate. Not for a single second.

The sickening noise rattled Sylvia's bones and settled as a nauseous lump, once in her stomach, and once in her throat. She choked back a gag. Chills crawled over her skin; she felt at once as though she was horrible ill, and also as though a swarm of tiny insects were flowing over her skin. Oh grop, Dominator was so far beyond messing around.

Biting her lip, she opened the eyes she never had known she'd closed. Wander sat on Dominator's lap still, hunched over and shaking. His expression was distorted in agony, but he had made no sound. The icicle jutted grotesquely from his thigh.

Dominator giggled. "Sorry, _Syl._ It sounded like what you _weren't_ gonna say some big awesome secret. So how about you try again? Let's see…" She tapped her lips. "Oh!" Her smile turned positively wicked. "I know." A second icicle materialized. "Tell me, or this one's going somewhere else..."

Her hand crept down between his legs -

"Whoa whoa, all right!" Sylvia waved her hands in stopping motions. "I'll tell ya!"

"No!" Wander screamed.

"There's a secret weapon," Sylvia uttered, all in one rush. "A – a secret weapon Hater was building to destroy you. It's hidden out in the galaxy, but I know where it is." With just enough of the truth, Sylvia could make it sound believable… right?

Dominator's expression dulled. "Seriously? That's it?" She snorted. "You've gotta be kidding me. Anything that loser makes is useless against my power. I can't believe you were trying so hard to hide something so _weak_."

Sylvia was silent, unsure how to respond. Slowly, she said, "but… don't you want to know where it is? And let us go in exchange?"

Dominator snorted. "No. That's not even worth getting out of bed for." She looked at the icicle impaled in Wander's leg with regret. "Yeesh, that means I really didn't have to do this. Boring." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, a secret like that isn't worth changing the deal. I keep Wander still."

Well, that surprised Sylvia exactly 0%.

What did surprise her – or at least horrify her – was when Dominator yanked the icicle straight out of Wander's thigh. This time, not expecting it, Wander let out a strangled scream, and immediately clapped his hands over the wound.

"Oh, shut it," Dominator sighed. "Really, just – get your hands off – there –" Beneath a red-hot hand, the wound cauterized. Wander's protests dwindled into whimpers. "A secret weapon made by Hater…" Dominator laughed brusquely. "Thanks for the joke!"

Wander's eyes curved up to meet Dominator's. "W-will y'let Sylvia go now?"

"Huh?"

"You said you'd let Sylvia go if I came with you…"

Dominator chuckled. "And you believed me?"

"But – y'promised -"

" _Y'promised_ ," Dominator mimicked, giggling. "I never get tired of just how naïve you are." She shoved him off her lap, and Wander plopped to the floor in a puddle of fur.

"Hey," Sylvia burst out, affronted. "Don't treat him like that!"

Dominator curved a brow at her. "Wow, you really want to go there? How about this, Zbornak: every time you try to demand how I treat Wander, I'll give him a new shiny injury."

Sylvia fell silent.

Dominator stretched. "Anyway, this has been fun and all, but screwing around with your heads really works up an appetite. How about some food, Wander?" She grinned. "I promise no desserts this time."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes, remembering the way Wander had responded to the cake on the Skullship. What exactly had Dominator _done_ to him? … And exactly how fixated was she on hurting him?

"Wait," Wander said. "Before I go –" Sylvia's heart ached to see Wander struggle up from the floor, clinging to the cell bars for support.

"It's gonna be okay, buddy," she told him, leaning in close. "I'll get you outta here."

He ignored her comment entirely in favor of slipping off his hat and pushing it through the bars. "You should have this, Syl."

 _His hat._ He was giving it up to her? But he needed it way, way more. Sylvia laughed nervously. "Buddy, that's your hat. You should keep it for yourself."

Wander pleaded with his eyes – grop, she had a hard time resisting that look. "Sylvia, please –"

Sylvia shook her head. "Wander, that's your hat," she emphasized, trying to make it clear that his need was greater than hers while also not drawing suspicion from Dominator.

The villain, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes and tapped her foot.

"An' I want _you_ t'have it," Wander insisted, reaching his tiny arms through the bars and practically forcing the hat onto Sylvia.

Grop, if this went on any longer, Dominator was liable to catch on that there was something special about the hat. "Fine, all right." Sylvia snatched up the hat and stuck it on her own head. "But it still looks better on you, yanno. Looks dumb on my noggin."

Wander looked far too vulnerable, hatless and smiling nervously at her. It made a sick feeling settle in her stomach. "Thanks, Syl."

"Yeah, yeah." She crossed her arms, and made out as if everything wasn't falling apart. But when he turned away, Sylvia gazed after him fearfully, long after he had turned the corner and gone.


	10. Chapter 10

"Aw man, you know what I forgot?"

Wander winced, afraid to ask. After leaving Sylvia's cell, he had clung to Dominator's skirt and used it to limp along behind her. At this point, his leg had largely gone numb (even though sometimes he stepped down incorrectly, didn't feel it, and then almost fell). Luckily, Dominator hadn't capitalized on his pitiful situation – at least until now, Wander assumed.

"Hey, aren't you listening? You know what I forgot?" Dominator halted and gazed imperiously down at him.

"Wh-whaddiya forget?"

"I totally didn't take a picture of you! Ugh, how could I have been so negligent? I mean, your expression when you saw Sylvia behind bars – and when you learned I wasn't gonna let her go? HAH! That was priceless, and it would have been a perfect addition to my chart. _Man_ I'm mad that I forgot."

"Your… chart?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't told you." Dominator fished out her phone, and flicked through it. "Hold up… almost there…. Ah, here we go-"

The screen was shoved in Wander's face. And what was shown on the screen…

Wander's heart went cold. "Th-this… this is me…."

"See, do you get it?" Dominator eagerly knelt by his side to look at the phone herself, and she scrolled left and right. "I'm making a chart! Over here on the left side – that's the picture I took when you passed out after desserts. That's the _one_ on the scale, see, because even though you were pretty miserable, you looked actually kind of happy sleeping. And now, if we scroll all the way to the right – that's the picture I took right after I stomped out your teeth. That's the _ten_ on the scale – at least for now." Dominator frowned and scrolled between the one and the ten. "I just rated every picture between one and ten and sorted it in based on how hilariously terrified your expression is."

"I-I don't understand."

"It's obvious," Dominator rolled her eyes. "It's like, a fun little game I was preparing for us. Whenever I do something to hurt you, I can pull up this chart, and you can rate your fear and pain! Like, is it as bad as the time I almost burnt your leg off, or is it more like the time I snapped your fingers?"

Wander let out a small, strangled noise. It was a compendium of his pain. A memento marking every single demented thing Dominator had done.

"I'm not totally satisfied with it," Dominator admitted. "Firstly I don't really have enough pictures, and secondly, it's kinda weird picking apart fear vs pain. Like, something might _hurt_ more, but you might be less scared. And sometimes you're scared, but it doesn't really _hurt_ a whole lot." She frowned. "Plus, I don't really like the current _ten_ picture; I don't feel like it really captures just how pitiful you can look. I mean, yeah, I did just rip out your teeth, but mentally you look a little out of it. The shock, I guess. Yawn."

"D-Dominator, y'don't have to things like that… If y'just gave Syl and I a chance, we could show you there's more-"

"Oh, I know I don't _have_ to do it. But I'm just a really good person, and I make things like this out of the kindness of my heart." Laughing, she stood and flicked through the pictures. "Man, you're really taking up my camera roll at this point. It used to be all pictures of the bots, and me, and burning corpses, dying planets, stuff like that. Usually me with those things in the background, actually. Oh, hey! We should take a picture together!"

Her hand swooped towards him. Panic immediately shot through his system: without thinking, he cried out involuntarily and scrambled back so fast that he fell to his butt.

Dominator paused, then returned her hand to her side. A smirk played at her lips. "I'm not _always_ going to hurt you, don't you know that?"

No. He didn't. Nothing had led him to believe that. Grop, she had just shown him her own personal gallery of his pain.

Despair flooded in. He was losing faith in Dominator. He was anticipating the worst of her in every little gesture, expecting harm every time she extended her hand. It… it made sense, of course. His body was a patchwork of injuries she had blithely inflicted; she broke bones and tore flesh as readily as one might say hello, good morning.

But people aren't born evil. They're born good, and they enter the world, get hurt, sometimes again and again and again. They learn what it's like to be helpless, alone, abused. And then, sometimes – sometimes – they begin to lash out. To need to feel in control. To need to hurt.

In order to help those people, you had to believe in them. You needed to believe in the starry eyed child they once were, and believe they could find good inside themselves, a good that could conquer all the hurt and sadness and loneliness and fear. You had to help them believe in themselves.

Wander dragged his eyes up to meet her imperious gaze. He recalled the harsh metal of her helmet digging into her cheek. How heavy her spauldrons were. How soft her expression in sleep. He thought of her all alone on this massive ship. Alone in cavernous halls, day after day. And night after night, returning to an empty room.

Pity swelled in him.

"What's wrong with you?" Dominator snapped. "Are you mute? Oh, grop, now you're crying."

She was so _alone_. Wander could see it now – Dominator traveling to planets and seeing these happy people, friends, lovers, family – all sharing life together. Everything Dominator didn't have.

"Uh… did I break it? Jeez, I thought this was something only dysfunctional bots did."

That's why she chose to destroy rather than conquer.

"Should I call in a repair bot?" Dominator squinted. "A medic? Oh wait, I probably killed them all."

"I'm sorry, Domi," Wander said, choking up. "I'm sorry…"

"Sorry for _what_?"

"Sorry for whatever's got you so bent on hurtin' folks." Wander hesitated. "For how lonely y'are. And for me treatin' you like a villain."

"I _am_ a villain," Dominator replied flatly.

"Right now," Wander admitted. "But y'don't have t'be." Offering a watery smile, he extended his hand. "Y'don't have to be lonely, either. I can be your friend."

Dominator reeled away in disgust. "Alone? I'm not alone, why would you _think_ that?"

"Dom…." He gazed up mournfully. "Y'can't ever make enough bots to keep your loneliness away."

"SHUT UP!"

Lava flared over her gloves and dripped to the floor. Against his own will, Wander shrank against the floor and shut his mouth. N-no need to provoke her, that was all. If talking about this just made her mad, no need to make it worse-

"I don't need you, or any other loser in this galaxy! In fact –" A chain sprouted up from the floor and clamped around his one good ankle. "I'm going to go revel in the fact I destroyed this whole place! I'll be perfectly happy by myself! And you stay here and starve for all I care!"


	11. Chapter 11

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

There wasn't any clock, of course not, but still in his head he imagined one ticking. Not that he had ever measured his life by one, but when he was forced to be still for so long, he started replaying spinning hands in his head, and he thought of the planets moving always away from each other, and –

The ship hummed. Constantly. Like a soft purring.

He rubbed his cheek on the wall. He also ripped out some of his fur, and unraveled the bandages on his leg without realizing it. He traced patterns in the floor and along the walls, and again, and again, and again –

His stomach grumbled, and his tongue felt dry, and he looked down the halls expecting any minute for Dominator to burst in, with new ideas about how to hurt him.

Every way to free himself he tried: yanking on the chain, trying to slip his foot free, chewing on the metal. It made his gums raw before he gave up.

And finally, he fell asleep.

He dreamed that he was running from something - some unknown thing - but that no matter what he did, he was plagued by exhaustion, he could barely open his eyes. His head screamed for him to run run _run_ but his eyes grew heavier and heavier –

Familiar wicked laughter rang through the darkness, and a scream strained to emerge from his throat, and he knew he needed to _move now_ but his eyes finally slipped completely shut and –

He jolted awake with a cry.

Lightening horns reared in matching arches over him.

"Please, no!" Wander kicked backward weakly, and his ankle snagged on the metal chain.

" _Please, no_ ," Dominator mimicked, and laughed. "I didn't even do anything yet, jeez. You're so twitchy."

That didn't slow his heart rate. But… she was right. She was just kneeling nearby. His eyes traveled towards. She had in her hand several leaves of lettuce, which dripped fresh spring water onto the cooled lava floor.

Was that… for him? It wasn't poisoned, was it?

"Anyway," Dominator added, "I decided I didn't want you dead. I was eating dinner and realized things would actually be pretty lame around here with you being all losery. I mean, I do have Hater – ugh – and the Zbornak and one of those weird eye guys… but like, nobody else is as hilariously pathetic as you. I want to make it clear I don't _need_ you. I don't need anybody. You're just entertaining. And I want to keep you around because it gets boring around here."

That tore his attention away from the lettuce. "Please don't hurt them - Hater, and Syl, and Peepers. I'm here an' I'll do just fine, Domi, I can take it – you don't gotta hurt them -"

"Well, I gotta hurt _someone_." Her eyes flitted to the side. "I miss destroying stuff, you know?" She met his gaze and smiled twistedly. "It's like, if I go too long without wrecking _something_ , I get all, you know-" she pointed at her temple and rolled her eyes.

"You gotta destroy stuff t'feel happy?" Wander said miserably.

Dominator huffed. "Well, no – I'm happy no matter what! Jeez, what is there not to be happy about? It's just-" she struggled for words, then fury crossed her expression. "Just shut up! It's fun messing with the lives of stupid little people like you, that's all. Now do you want the lettuce or not?" She waved it impatiently.

Wander nodded frantically, stomach grumbling. But reaching for it meant getting closer and she had just spelled out the fact she was keeping him to hurt him. What if this was just a trick?

 _No, you have to trust her; you have to show her you can believe in her._

He stretched out a trembling hand. Dominator's eyebrow quirked, and fear flooded through him – it was a trick after all! He flinched back so fast that it jarred his shoulder.

"Wow." Dominator laughed. "You can't even do this much, can you? You can't even reach out to take some food from my hand?"

"A-are y'gonna hurt me?" Wander squeaked.

Dominator rolled her eyes. "I mean, I wasn't planning on it right now because I'm running out of things to break on you. But I totally can."

"N-n-no!" Wander laughed nervously. "Y'don't hafta – really – I don't want to – I don't think I can take much more of that, Domi-"

"Well, if you can't handle it, then I guess I'll just have to pay more attention to our new arrivals, won't I?"

"Wait, NO!"

She appraised him coolly. "Isn't that what you're saying? I mean, and you're right! I really made you useless. Your leg's busted, half your fingers don't work, you've only got half your teeth, like…" She scrunched up her face in distaste. "At this point, you're really only good to kill! But I have three fresh new toys waiting in cells! Man, what am I doing with you…"

New protests rose to Wander's lips, to beg for the lives of his friends, but he paused. What _was_ Dominator doing with him? She had brought in Sylvia, Peepers, and Hater, but all were presumably unharmed (Dominator would have gleefully told him immediately if any one of them were hurt). That meant she'd locked them all up and then left to search for Wander, rather than spending time tormenting them.

Likewise, once she left Wander alone in the hallway, she had evidently ignored the new prisoners. And now, returning back to Wander, she still left them completely alone.

Did this mean she had…. Some kind of fixation on hurting him in particular? But she had never shown preferences before like that -

Wait, but maybe that wasn't completely true. Yes, she destroyed planets without a second thought, but in every encounter with Wander, she… she aimed to hurt, not kill.

"I guess you just look most pitiful," Dominator concluded, shaking some of the water off the lettuce. "You're so _tiny_ and _fluffy_. Obviously that's why you're the most fun to mess with."

Was that really it? Was that the reason why? No…. it didn't explain everything. And it didn't take into account her loneliness. _Why_ can't you just be _friends_ with me?" Wander strained to say.

"Aww, we _are_ friends. Best best _best_ friends!"

"No!" A very rare anger clawed up his chest, and his hackles rose. "That's _not_ what friendship is all about! Friends are always lookin' out for friends, and they're helpful and kind and – golly, friends are really wonderful, Dom, and if you'd jus' let me show ya-"

Dominator rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm bored already. Shut up about friendship before I rip out your tongue."

Wander opened his mouth, then closed it. Dominator wasn't in the habit of making threats she didn't follow through on. Meekly, Wander nodded.

"Good." A lava hand clamped down around his body and yanked him closer. The chain around his ankle rattled. "Now how about you eat this stupid lettuce I brought you? Seriously, you're so ungrateful. I _know_ you're hungry."

His heart thudded like a frightened rabbit against her fingers.

But… he could show her in actions, not words. _Trust._ Yes, this was scary. This was beyond scary oh grop she was going to rip into him and tear out his insides and – _no no._ Trust.

"Hello, anybody home? Man, I didn't mean shut up altogether! You can answer questions!"

He could do this.

"Is everybody around me a complete moron? Seriously, who just goes entirely silent in the middle of the conversation? We were talking! I was asking you a-"

Wander whuffled his lips over the edge of the lettuce. Dominator went quiet. Wander began to nibble.

A pleasant munching noise replaced the silence. In any other situation, a happy murmur would have bubbled up from his throat. In this situation, he was too terrified for outward displays of happiness. But it _was_ really good lettuce – crunchy and delicious. _How does Dominator even have this?_

Wander nibbled through a quarter of the leaf, and still Dominator didn't say a word. And that – that was a little unusual. A little too much silence. The fur down his back and neck rose. Normally she was pretty talkative. _Not_ talking was unpredictable: she could be thinking or feeling anything. Just to be on the safe side, he needed to catch a glimpse of her expression, to see if she was planning on murdering him in some horrible way.

But, glancing at her meant looking up from the floor. It meant confirming the fear pumping through his blood. It meant being face to face with someone who really really wanted to hurt him. An inadvertent whimper squeezed up through his throat. To his shock, Dominator responded with a soft, almost child-like murmur.

At last he flicked a furtive glance at Dominator.

He stopped chewing. Tension clamped down on his every muscle. _Oh_. That wasn't a good expression. That was a dangerous, dangerous expression. It was exactly the one she had worn when she started choking him before - this funky expression hazarding around _affectionate._

Except – it was all wrong. It wasn't the kind of affectionate Sylvia showed; it wasn't like kind hugs, wasn't like waking up beside your favorite buddy to start a new adventure, wasn't like escaping together from danger and grinning at the friend you loved the most, it wasn't the grateful smile of a villain-turned-good – no, it was nothing like that. It was nothing at all like that.

He didn't have any time to prepare before she surged forward and smooched him again.

Wander yowled and arched away, pushing away her face with his good hand. "Whoa, D-Dominator, what was-!"

"Stop that," she growled, and lava forced his wrist behind his back. "Just, shut up and stop moving –"

"Wh-why are you doin' th-mfh!" He thrashed as her lips connected with his yet again. Stubbornly, he twisted his head to the side, and Dominator got a face full of fur.

"Blugh!" Dominator shook her head and spat. "Gross why do you have so much _hair_. It gets _everywhere_. And I told you to stop moving!"

"L-look, Domi, I don't like ya that way – I mean, we can be friends, but I don't – I don't feel that way, I –" he squirmed. "Do _you_? I-if you keep wanting to – to do that – then do you-?"

Dominator rolled her eyes, "What, _like_ - _like_ you? Am I supposed to use your naïve terms?"

"Well, love me?" Wander squeaked.

"No," she spat. She leaned in closer, and Wander cringed away from the intensity of her red eyes. "I don't know. What if I do?"

"W-well, golly, that's wonderful," Wander whimpered. "C-cause, love is a real good thing, an', well…" his argument stumbled to a halt, because he couldn't convince himself of what he was saying. Dominator had kissed him before, but it hadn't stopped her from hurting him; it hadn't changed her behavior at all. Maybe she was in denial about her feelings? Maybe she didn't know _how_ to love someone? Despair filtered in, because he knew deep down it wasn't that, it couldn't be that, but he _wanted_ it to be, because then he could _do_ something –

"It is pretty cool," Dominator said conversationally. "I've never like, wanted to hurt one specific person so much before. _And_ kiss them, I mean, what is that about?" She scrunched up her nose. "Especially because you're so – so lame, you know? You're like a furry broom or something." She tossed a feral grin at him. "But, it's kind of fun, right?"

"Uhhh-" Wander frantically looked down the hallways as if any minute, something would come to save him.

"I mean, I could get used to it." Clawed fingers dug into the back of his skull and held him in place.

"No, Dominator, th-this isn't what love is, it's –" he shuddered as she silenced any remaining words. She kissed with clumsy inexperience, and it occurred to Wander that maybe she had never done this before. That alone could be endearing, or something positive, but Wander was too terrified out of his mind to appreciate it.

Because she also kissed with no regard at all for him. She didn't ask or need for him to reciprocate, nor did she tailor her actions to make him comfortable. Each caress, each curious lick was aimed for her own exploration, her own pleasure – she held Wander in place like a doll or a puppet, and clearly had no desire to treat him as anything but that.

This time, there wasn't any escaping, and her teeth were sharp and the lava encased him and her body pressed close - everything was getting frighteningly claustrophobic and of course he was okay, he could deal with it, this was no biggie, nothing too scary – everything was fine – everything was going _great_ – nothing was wrong _nothing was wrong he was fine nothing scary this was completely okay_

His back struck something hard. Spots flared in his vision making it _really_ hard to see anything but through some dizzy haze he glimpsed strange patterns of purple red – oh. The ceiling.

Then green and teeth and –

 _She was on top of him, oh Grop_ , and her hand was flat over his entire torso, squishing his ribs to the floor. He couldn't breathe, and he really, really didn't want to be here right now. He needed to be anywhere but here -

Then, she stopped.

Wander felt her draw away. A shudder worked its way down his spine, and his eyes flitted closed. He didn't want to be awake. He didn't want to feel anything. Maybe, maybe she would leave him alone… at least for an hour or two….

" _ACHOO_!"

The noise made him flinch in fright. His eyes sprang open, and he sat up, heart pounding.

"What the….?" Dominator muttered, nose scrunched up and eyes watering. "I didn't think – _ACHOO_!"

Wander cringed away. What if this upset her? What if she got mad and started hurting him again? What if she hurt him _while_ smooching him?

"This only happens when-" her eyes narrowed.

The next sequences of events Wander had difficulty processing. Firstly, something that was a lot of big and a lot of blue collided into Dominator and the two rolled over each other in a strange mess of limbs.

Secondly, there were flowers. _Everywhere_. Dozens and dozens of pink petals floating like dust motes in the air.

Finally, a giant eyeball appeared in his vision.

It was yelling at him. "-out of here, go go go!"

"Peepers?" Wander said.

"NOW!"

"I'm –" Wander glanced back to the chain around his leg. To his shock, the end of the chain was a melted mess. His eyes drifted back to Peepers' hand, where a red blaster was gripped. Oh. A petal comically landed on Peeper's head.

"Oh, for the luvva-" Peepers holstered the blaster and scooped Wander up. "We're getting outta here!"

The world zapped back into focus. Dominator and Sylvia were fighting on the floor, exchanging swears and scratches and punches – but Peepers was already fleeing down the hall with Wander in his clutches.

"NO!" Wander screeched, "We gotta go back, Sylvia!"

"Will be perfectly fine on her own!" Peepers yelled. "Hater will be her backup, and they're both evacuating as soon as you're off this ship!"

"No, Sylvia!" He slipped from Peepers' grasp, took two steps, then crashed to the floor. When he looked up, he glimpsed a horrible picture frozen in his mind; Dominator on top of Sylvia, expression twisted in murderous rage, and her lava hand reared back with every finger a deadly sharp point –

Peepers seized Wander and ran.


	12. Chapter 12

The plan had been to monitor Dominator's surveillance cameras until an opportune moment to grab Wander and flee the ship, ideally allowing them as much time as possible before Dominator noticed their absence.

Sylvia put a three-fingered fist right through that plan (and the computer monitor) the moment she glimpsed what was transpiring in the hall.

After that, all bets were off. Sylvia went careening out of the control deck, with Hater and Peepers flying after her.

"UGH, I can't believe she smooched WANDER!" Hater screamed.

"Sir, that's really not the point here!" Peepers yelled back.

"Why couldn't she have smooched ME?"

"With all respect, Lord Hater; she's a monster! You're lucky you dodged that bullet!"

"Doesn't mean I'm happy about it," Hater grumbled.

Peepers rolled his eye. "You don't have to be happy about it, sir. Now let's get Wander and get off this ship!"

Of course, _that_ was easier said than done. Peepers scooped up the star nomad and went racing down the hall, trusting Sylvia and Hater to be able to hold off Dominator. Wander, for his part, made this as difficult as possible.

"Wander, focus!" he yelled. "How do we leave!?"

"We can't leave without Sylvia!"

Peepers growled and scrabbled to maintain his hold on the struggling creature that was, in all reality, taller than him and much _squirmier_. "Look, I don't even like you! All you do is get in Lord Hater's way, and he was never as good of a conqueror after you showed up!" _But nobody deserves what Dominator has been doing to you_. Peepers shook the thought off. "So just, focus here and let me know which way to turn!"

"Please, please, no, Syl-" Wander pawed weakly at Peepers' shoulder, straining to return to his friend. At this point, Peepers decided that there was no way Wander could be using his full strength – otherwise, based on previous experience, he should easily be able to worm out of Peepers' hold.

In fact… Wander overall wasn't doing very well. Peepers could feel him physically shaking in his arms, and his tiny heart skittering along like a rabbit's. The commander had never seen Wander so… so wrecked.

"Keep it together," Peepers snapped, unsure if he was talking to himself or to Wander. He let out a frustrated noise, and bolted to the left. Had to choose one path. Had to keep moving.

This swiftly turned out to be a mistake as an army of bots appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Ohhh grop grop grop-" Peepers turned around and high tailed it away from the bots, "should have turned right, should have turned- AAGHH!"

He skidded to a halt.

Lord Dominator smiled. Her helmet was gone, and her white hair stuck up in odd, tussled places. Bruises littered her body, and a sizeable scrape over her ribs welled with dark red liquid. Her eyes, too, were swollen and red from allergies. But she was still standing, and she was here, and Peepers dreaded to think about what that meant.

Peepers turned to run, only to find the bots had formed an impassable barrier behind him.

"Heeeyy," Dominator said slowly.

Wander jerked his head up. "Where's Syl? D-Domi, where's Syl?"

"Oh, your little horse friend?" Dominator snucked up snot and pulled an ugly expression. "Stupid flowers…. Whatever. I made Sylvia go bye-bye."

The sound that ripped from Wander's throat was somewhere between a wail and scream of fury; any intended words were lost to the emotion. He finally tore out of Peepers arms and thumped to the floor.

Peepers couldn't see what expression it was that Wander then fixed at Dominator – in hindsight, he was glad he didn't. Dominator's eyes widened, and a feral grin lashed around her mouth. "Oh-hoh, wow, Wander! Isn't that so scary?~ Whatcha gonna do? Kill me?"

At that moment, there was a loud crash distantly in the ship and an enraged yell that was very plainly Sylvia's. Wander and Peepers froze.

Dominator's expression went flat. "Ugh, fine. I was just messing with you. I left her to play with the bots."

With a muffled sob, Wander collapsed in relief.

"You're a monster," Peepers said, his single eye wide.

"Aw, thanks. I love compliments!"

His blaster let out a menacing whine as he drew it and pointed it straight at Lord Dominator. "No more messing around! This isn't a game! Step away from Wander, now!"

Dominator quirked an eyebrow. "Wow. I'm so terrified. The little Hater-bot wants to fight."

"I am NOT a Hater-bot. My name is Commander Peepers, and I-"

Dominator swiped her arm through the air; a spike of lava burst from the wall and speared the gun. Before Peepers' eye, it crushed the blaster and cast the useless metal scraps aside.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Dominator smirked. This was following rapidly with a sneeze, and she growled in irritation. "Ugh! Stupid allergies. Look, isn't Wander your enemy, anyway? Is he _really_ worth dying for?"

Peepers cast a frustrated glance towards Wander, who, concerningly, hadn't really moved from the floor. "This isn't just about Wander! I serve Lord Hater, and before you came along, he -"

A lava fist punted Peepers into the wall. The commander struck hard, and then slumped to the floor, groaning.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you talking?" Dominator feigned a yawn. "I got so bored I stopped paying attention."

"Stop!" Wander found the energy to cry out. He raised himself on feeble arms, and struggled to get his legs beneath him.

Dominator snorted. " _Stop Dominator, waa, you're so evil!"_ Her foot slammed down on his back and she ground her heel into his spine. "When are you _ever_ going to learn- OW What the Grop!?"

She clutched her arm, right beneath the now smoldering shoulder plate. Her narrowed eyes curved to the side. There stood Peepers, trembling behind a red blaster bigger than his body.

"So," she said. "you've got more weapons, huh?"

"More than you know, and I'm very ready to use them on you. So stand back!"

Dominator stepped off of Wander. "Woow," she drawled. "You know, that's _really_ impressive. Seriously, I'm-"

Peepers squeezed the trigger, once, twice, thrice.

Three _thumps,_ Dominator stumbled back, and three new quarter-sized holes, two in her side, one in her left arm, joining the fourth that had fried her shoulder plate. Eyes round, Dominator touched the blood seeping from her side. "You – you shot me! Again! I was _talking_!"

Her look of shock satisfied Peepers to no end. " _You_ interrupted _me_. So I did the same! That's how it's gonna work around here."

"What the…" her finger prodded the newly formed holes, and she winced. " _Grop_ , that hurts!"

He wrapped a finger threateningly around the trigger. "Stand back. Away from Wander."

Rage contorted her bruised face. Her fist glowed with molten lava, its heat cauterizing and sealing the two wounds on her side.

"Don't kill her," whispered Wander.

"I won't unless she gives me reason to," Peepers assured him.

"You're going to wish you had," Dominator said. The wall behind Peepers morphed into liquid lava; coils wrapped around his wrists and ankles and wrenched them apart, stretching him like taffy.

"No, let me go!" Peepers thrashed, but the lava had solidified. He strained to twist his wrist, to point the blaster at Dominator again – but she stalked closer and yanked it from his fingers hard enough to bruise them.

Her cold crimson eyes examined the surface. "Nice weapon, nerd. I can tell you've got an eye for guns. Get it? Get it, 'cause you're just – oh, whatever." She leveled the blaster at Commander Peeper's chest. "I don't like people messing up my plans."

Wander cried out, "Please, Domi, no-"

"Try this for a change: Dee, _yes_." She pulled the trigger; Wander screamed. The only noise Peepers let out was a soft _mph_ , and the force of the shot made his body jolt in the restraints.

His eye lost focus, and agonized tears appeared.

"Oh, you think that's bad?" Dominator snorted. "You shot me four times! I mean, I guess one of them mostly missed me, but still. I'd say let's make it even." She ignored Wander's protests and leveled the gun at his chest again.

This time, she fired in quick succession; three times she pulled the trigger, and three times he twitched violently, grotesquely, like a puppet pointlessly yanked on its strings by an ill-practiced hand.

Breathing hard, Dominator stepped away and threw aside the gun. "There. Even."

The lava released Peepers; he collapsed, and didn't move.

"Huh," Dominator said. "Now that I think about it, it's probably overboard, since it's same number of shots but you're only a pipsqueak. Oh well."

Wander made a strangled noise.

"Aww…" clicking her tongue, Dominator turned her attention to him. "Was he a fwend of yours? Pfft. Maybe you shouldn't let your friends onto this ship, idiot. I don't like them very much." Another loud crash erupted from the hall, this time closer. Dominator flicked watery red eyes towards the sound, frowning. "And it sounds like the Zbornak is headed this way."

She grabbed Wander by the scruff of his neck before he could flee, and dangled him gleefully before her face. "Would you like me to do the same thing to her?"

Trembling, Wander met her gaze. Deep red and unrepentant, merciless. Soulless. Not for the first time, he glimpsed an _emptiness_ inside her, an emptiness that he previously thought hid personal hurts, an emptiness that could be filled with friendship, or love, or happiness.

For the first time, he looked harder at that emptiness, and he found only more hatred, more sadism, more cruelty. And no matter how hard he tried, or how much he wanted to, he couldn't find anything else.

Tears welled in his eyes.

"Are you dumb?" Dominator was saying, shaking him. "I asked you a question! Do you want me to shoot Sylvia? It'll be just like hunting!"

"I'm sorry, Dominator."

"Sorry?" She snorted. "What, are you going to go on one of your stupid little rants about how sad you are that I'm _lonely_?"

He shook his head. He glimpsed Hater and Sylvia appear at the end of the hallway behind Dominator, both beat up and worse for the wear, but both still standing.

"PEEPERS!" Hater cried out, and lunged for the fallen commander.

Dominator tossed an arrogant glance over her shoulder, mouth opening to undoubtedly make some derisive taunt, and that's when Wander twisted around in her grip. His teeth sank into her wrist, and swiftly after, needle-like claws popped into her forearm and clung tight.

"FFFFH – OW, what the Grop!?" Dominator flailed her arm in a frantic effort to fling Wander off. Snarling, Wander bit down harder and shook his head. The taste of blood welled on his tongue, and he shuddered, fighting down the need to gag.

"Get off me, what are you _doing_?" she cried as she scrambled to peel him off with her other hand.

A blue fist sailed in from the side and clocked Dominator hard across the face; she staggered hard, blinking furiously. Wander quaked, for he could practically feel her fury radiating from her blood.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" she dove at Sylvia – Wander raked his claws along her forearm, anything to stop her – but she grabbed Sylvia with one lava-strengthened fist, and physically threw the Zbornak halfway across the hall. Next she grasped Wander's scruff and ripped him off her arm, along with a good amount of skin, and threw him after Sylvia.

Wander heard rather than saw the crackle of lightning, and an infuriated cry from Hater; he heard rather than saw Dominator's retort, and the crunch of bones. By the time Wander whipped his head around, Sylvia was already up and running towards Dominator.

"No, Sylvia!"

Dominator grinned manically, eyes blazing with unhinged fury. Sharp icicles sprouted from her open palms. "Come on, show me what you've got."

"Sylvia, DON'T!"

The two collided; Wander cried out and his eyes screwed shut the moment he glimpsed blood. Yet again, he heard lightning, and enraged screaming. Flecks of something very, very cold spattered across his face – jumping, he opened his eyes in time to see Dominator crash down beside him, ice spraying around the entire hall.

"ENOUGH!" Dominator howled, slamming her fists onto the floor. Immediately, the temperature in the hallway shot up. Wander's next breath felt thick, like inhaling hot water or molasses. Primal fear gripped him, but he had not a second to dwell on it before Sylvia's hands wrapped around his midsection. In the next moment, he was pressed safe to her chest as she ran for life itself. Behind Sylvia, he heard Hater in pursuit.

Sweat prickled beneath his skin as the temperature bore down, hotter, hotter, hotter – above him, Sylvia panted, and swore beneath her breath.

"R-Right!" Wander cried out.

"What?"

"Turn right!" Sylvia didn't question, but immediately obeyed.

"Left!" Another turn, "right!"

Sylvia let out a soft hiss. The floor was turning colors, at first black, then deep red, easing towards orange –

"There, right there!"

Sylvia barreled through the doorway, and launched into blessed cool dark space. Distant stars from foreign places twinkled reassuringly. Hater floated past, Commander Peepers clutched tight in his arms.

Wander gave a small, exhausted smile.


	13. Chapter 13

It took all of two seconds for Wander's smile to be completely wiped from his face.

Peepers wasn't _breathing_.

"Hater, we need to _move,"_ Sylvia yanked out orbble juice from beneath the saddle, and made a bubble around her and Wander. Above them, Dominator ship silently lurked.

Wander struggled in Sylvia's arms. "S-Syl, Peepers is – he's not –"

Hater curled tight around the tiny commander, his whimpers wrenching Wander's heart. "Peepers?" he murmured closely.

"Let's move, now," Sylvia grabbed Hater's arm and tugged, but the conqueror reared away, face twisted in agony and anger.

"This is YOUR fault!"

"What? We don't have time for this –" Sylvia reached again, but again, Hater resisted.

"No! If it wasn't for you, he'd still be-!" Hater's expression crumpled; his hulking mass protectively curled around Peepers. "I'm not going with you!" He barked. "You're my enemy, anyway!"

Sylvia cast an uneasy glance at the ship, which still loomed ominous and silent above them. "Okay," she said quickly.

"What!?" Wander yelped.

"He's got the watchdogs and their ships," Sylvia said, turning on her heel and setting off at a run. "We _don't_. We've got our legs."

Wander peered mournfully over Sylvia's shoulder as they traveled further and further from Dominator's huge ship.

When Sylvia got to running, she really got to running. Nobody could cross solar systems faster than her once she got going – and when it came to Wander's protection, she had never moved faster.

Wander, for his part, dozed fitfully in her arms. Despite the exhaustion overtaking him, he never slept for long – just as soon as his eyes shut, he'd jerk them open again, his breath a rapid, staccato beat of fear.

Sylvia poured her own fear into her running. As if she could run far enough away that the things done to him would never bother him, as if she could run until they returned to the life they had known before – when it was much simpler, when Hater and Peepers were their worst adversaries, and everything had been _adventure_.

Sylvia wasn't sure when, but at some point, she stopped feeling the back of her neck crawl, and she stopped being convinced Dominator was right at their heels. She slowed down, at first to a light jog, and then a quick walk.

Gradually, this eased into a slow, trudging walk, as they passed one dead planet after another. Silent, black space yawned all around them in all directions, with no sign of activity, and only a few tiny, weak stars, incapable of sustaining life – stars that Dominator didn't consider worth destroying.

Wander yawned, showing off his missing teeth, and snuggled against Sylvia's chest. His eyes were heavy, sleepy, and worried.

"Hey, everything's gonna be okay," Sylvia said softly.

He tucked his hands close to his chest. "What about Peepers?" he whispered. "H-Hater was right. It's our fault…."

"Stop." Sylvia eyed him sternly. "Don't think for a second you shoulder blame for this, Wander.

It was quiet for a long time, then Sylvia spoke up, quieter, "You know, I always liked the little guy. Always tryin' to catch you, but he never hurt you, and he wasn't any more villainous than Hater." Sylvia snorted. "Turns out neither of them were really evil at all, eh."

"I always liked it when we got invited to the skullship, an' we'd run around with the watchdogs."

Wryly, "You mean every time they 'captured' us and we escaped?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Wander grinned, though it was fleeting. "I sure will miss Commander Peepers comin' and tellin' us all to stop, and then joinin' in 'cause he's not allergic to fun or nothin' like that."

"I'll miss him, too," Sylvia said heavily. "Things are really messed up now, aren't they?"

Wander chewed his lip. "I didn't know she was gonna kill somebody."

"Yeah…"

He peered up at her. "Sylvia? I… I don't think I can help Dominator."

Sylvia's heart clenched. Crud, it was difficult hearing her friend sound that broken. "Wander, I don't think anybody can help her."

"I tried to be nice and friendly to her like I'd be to any folks, and I tried to listen, and – I-I don't know what more I could do-"

"Whoa, whoa, Wander." Sylvia stopped and craned her neck down to meet his gaze. "You did way more than anybody should – or could! You tried your best, buddy, but sometimes people just can't be helped."

His eyes looked so afraid. "I tried to look way deep down in her, but I don't think she's got _anything_ beneath the surface."

Sylvia sighed. "Wander, take it from me – she doesn't." She faced forward and continued walking.

Silence. Then Wander's tiny voice piped up, "But how can that happen?"

"Some people are just evil, Wander."

Another beat of silence. "She said she liked me."

"I'm sure she said a lot of things," Sylvia grumbled, already fed up with this talk about Dominator.

"N-no, I mean," Wander hesitated. "I-I think she loves me."

Sylvia's stomach dropped, replaying the image of Dominator pinning Wander to the floor, looming over him, and –

"- but Sylvia, how can you love someone if there's no good in you? How can a person be so empty and evil inside, and still love another person?"

"Stop." Sylvia met Wander's eyes sternly. "Don't, Wander; don't go there."

"Huh?"

"Whatever messed up crud she feels for you, it isn't love, you got that?"

Wander didn't answer, and rage boiled in Sylvia's blood. "Listen, it doesn't mean anything, and it definitely doesn't mean you can cure her with the 'power of love' or anything!"

"I know," Wander averted his eyes. "She's not just lonely, and her likin' me doesn't change a lick of her personality. I don't think any amount of love would change that."

Wander still appeared ponderous, though, and dread flooded Sylvia.

"You don't like her back, do you?"

Wander reared his head up, eyes horrified. "No! I-I mean, I wanted to be her friend at first, but – no."

"Phew, jeez. You had me worried there for a minute."

"I just don't understand," Wander added. "How can a person be like that?"

"It's good that you don't," Sylvia bit out aggressively. "Look, don't waste another second trying to figure her out. She's ten kinds of crazy – nobody can reason with that. Anyway, she doesn't deserve even one bit of your time.

Wander nodded sadly, but Sylvia could still see the gears turning in his head. Scolwing, she stomped on. Wander's frown deepened.

"Hey, Sylvia?"

"What?"

"Thanks for getting me out of there." Furry arms wrapped around her neck, and a soft cheek rubbed her chest affectionately.

"Wha – oh, stop." Sylvia grumbled, but a kind smile accompanied her words. Boy, it felt great to have her pal back.

"I'm sorry you got hurt…" a feather light caress over the three deep scratches gouged into her shoulder.

"Aw, it's nothing. This ol' girl's seen much worse, trust me. Heck, I'm more worried about you!" Sylvia cast Wander a glance from the corner of her eyes. Though she spoke lightly, her feelings came from a dark, anxious place. She still didn't have a full grasp of what Lord Dominator had done to Wander.

Last time they'd rescued him, he constantly had insisted he was okay, despite the fact he obviously wasn't. It made her wary of asking outright this time.

Wander, predictably, was still focused on the scratches that maimed her side. "We really ought to patch this up."

"Don't have time to stop; what if Dominator's after us?"

"She's not following us, Sylvia. If she was, we'd already be captured." Grop, it was eerie how calmly he said that.

"All right," Sylvia replied, falsely cheerful. "Then how about this? I'll let you bandage up those scratches, if you let me take a look at your leg?"

"Okey dokey! All we need is a little gauze, and –" Wander's hand stopped above his head, explored the air briefly, then fell to his side. "Right, I'd clean forgotten. Sylvia, can I have my hat back now? I sure do miss it."

Sylvia froze midstep. Oh. His. His hat. "I-I was so focused on you, I didn't – maybe Hater –" but no, she knew that wasn't true, either. Hater had only been paying attention to Peepers , and briefly engaging Lord Dominator using only lightning. He wouldn't have picked up the hat, nor had Sylvia seen it anywhere on his person when they expelled themselves from the ship.

It was Sylvia who had first drawn flowers from it, and Sylvia who had kept ahold of it through her initial battle with Dominator. It was Sylvia who clutched it as she fought the bots. Finally, it was Sylvia who let go of it as she stumbled from the pile of bots and bolted to get Wander.

"I'm sorry, Wander; it was my fault… I must have dropped it in the battle."

Wander's face fell. "O-oh."

"Buddy, I'm really sorry." It seemed funny, after everything that had happened, to feel guilty over forgetting a hat. But she knew how special it was to Wander, and that it wasn't just any hat.

He forced a grin. "Well, that's all right. It's just an ol' hat, right?"

"You're sure you're okay about it?"

Wander looked away. "Well, no. But you matter a whole lot more to me, Syl, and I don't want you to get hurt again. If it means you'll be okay, let's stay far away from that ship, and my hat."

Sylvia hugged Wander tightly, overcome with emotion. Still, a terrible idea settled in her head, and she prayed to all that was good in the galaxy that Dominator wouldn't figure out what the hat could do.

"Grop, this is depressing," Sylvia muttered, looking around. Once Sylvia complained about her feet bothering her, her and Wander made their way to the nearest planet. It, like almost all the other planets in the galaxy, was little more than a floating, ashen rock.

"But Syl, look!" Wander pointed. "There's a flower!"

"Huh?" She looked where he pointed, and her eyebrows lifted. "Huh, you're right." It was a little pink bud, pushing up from the powdery grey soil. "It looks like life always finds a way," she smiled, and rubbed her feet once Wander wasn't looking – all right, so the temperature of the floor as they escaped the ship had burned them a little. But it wasn't too bad. Nothing like what Wander had experienced, she was sure.

Wander inched closer to the bud, and cradled it in his hands.

"Isn't this one of the planets we crashed on when we were running away from Dominator with that flower?" Sylvia asked. "You don't think this little bud comes from that flower, do you?"

"I _do_ ," Wander squeaked, "Syl, I think this little bud is here 'cause of us! Dominator didn't destroy the flower after all! Well, at least not this little fellow that came from it."

"Well, would you look at that. Maybe this galaxy isn't doomed after all."

"'Course it's not."

Sylvia yawned. "Well, I'm about beat, Wander. What do you say we camp here for the night, and then we can head off the secret planet first thing when we wake?" On top of her exhaustion, Sylvia was antsy to get Wander to the secret planet, where she could know he was safe, firstly, and secondly, where he could finally get some proper medical attention for his numerous injuries. That leg was really starting to look nasty…

"Wait, before we sleep –"

"What?"

"Shouldn't we have some kind of – of somethin' for Peepers?"

"Like a…" Sylvia hesitated on the word _funeral_.

"We can make a fire! I'll get wood!" Wander sprang up, only to shudder and clutch at his leg.

"Whoa, bud, take it easy!" Sylvia bolted over and helped him sit back down. "You wait right here; I'll get some stuff for the fire."

Sylvia ignored her aching feet as she ran to and fro, collecting charred bits of wood and sticks from the ruined planet. She managed to dredge up a modest pile of kindling, which she gathered in a neat pile a safe distance from the little flower bud.

Rubbing together two sticks, she produces some sparks – the inchoate flame coughed, sputtered, and then slowly, slowly grew, into a waving orange-red flag. It wasn't nearly as majestic or grand a fire as Peepers' deserved, but Sylvia supposed the little commander would be willing to forgive them, considering the circumstances.

Wander reverently gazed into the flames, his expression long and sad, yet quietly accepting.

"Should we say some words?" Sylvia invited.

Wander paused thoughtfully. "Sometimes there aren't any words, Sylvia. There's nothin' that makes it okay. But I never met someone so loyal – not except you, Sylvia." He shot her a fleeting grin, before returning his gaze to the fire. "I really wish we coulda spent more time with him."

Sylvia sighed. "Me too, buddy. Me too."

Wander leaned against her side, and she wrapped an arm gingerly around his small, fluffy body.

"Peepers shot her," he said softly.

"Huh?"

"On the ship. He shot her four times. Well, I think he mostly missed the first time."

"Hah, is that right? What a fighter."

Again, they shared a silence, broken only by the crackling of flames. Wander pressed his cheek lightly to Sylvia's side. He gazed up at her, "Sylvia, we're not gonna… kill Dominator, are we?"

"If we have to."

"I just don't want to see anybody else die."

She stroked the fluff on his head, wishing he could have his hat back. "I know where you're coming from, Wander, but we might not have a choice. If it comes down to her versus the rest of the galaxy…. There's not any question in my mind who I'd choose."

Wander went silent, but his conflicted eyes agreed.


	14. Chapter 14

Snuggled close to Sylvia's warm side, clutched protectively in one arm as she dozed, Wander did his best to let sleep come to him. Nearby, the lone pink flower waved, silhouetted against a dusky sky and the ashy, barren earth. The vision of the flower swam as he drowsily blinked; its petals blurred and stretched and distorted into reaching arms –

 _Aren't we friends_ , she whispered, as fingers wrapped around his leg. Heat burst like a solar flare licking up his leg, and soon his entire body was aflame, pressed from all sides by molten liquid, slithering between his lips and pouring down his throat-

His eyes snapped open. The flower, the dead planet, Sylvia. A chill wind. Safe. He checked his leg, just to be sure. A grisly sight, but no lava. Safe. His cheek touched the ashen soil; the flower wavered darkly.

His claws splintered upon rough-hewn lava rock as she dragged him backward. When this failed, bloody, clawless fingertips ripped themselves open in a frantic attempt to crawl away, to get away, to be free–

His throat fluttered stupidly as he jerked awake, like it was trying to force air through without having any idea of how to do that. The flower, now a dark blob against a midnight sky. Wander's head drooped. It felt like weights were attached to his eyes, that his exhaustion was such that he couldn't stay awake for another minute –

Sardonic words dripped like hot oil from her tongue, _isn't this what you wanted, Wander. Didn't you say love was good?_

And her teeth glittered, not flat but sharp and pointed, and behind them danced a slick, long tongue, and there wasn't any mistaking the look in her eyes.

When he threw up his hands to push her away, they sank into her chest as her body caved around him, suffocating him in lava and heat; fierce terror struck him as he realized she had no pulse, no heartbeat, no heart –

He flinched hard enough to knock his head against Sylvia's barrel-like side. She let out a soft, sleep muffled snort, and dreamed on. Wander pressed himself nearer and focused again on the flower. He wasn't on the ship anymore. These were only dreams, his racing mind said, even as it dragged itself down into sleep.

Her fist protruded from Peeper's back. She was laughing. With a gesture like flicking water off your hands, Dominator flung Peepers aside and his body flopped uselessly on top of a pile of corpses.

Blood soaked hands wrapped lovingly around his midsection, in his ear a whisper, " _I've been collecting_ ," as a tongue slicked the entire length of his throat with saliva.

He was up to his knees in blood: it teased the fringes of his fur skirt, along with crawling, curious fingers.

The room yawned open. Where once there was nothing but rotting dark, he now glimpsed a vast array of limp corpses: some drowned in the lake of blood, most piled into mountains into a grotesque landscape of death. The thick stench coagulated in his lungs and refused to leave.

"Do you like it?" and there was Sylvia's body, mangled and crushed beneath a dozen others, flies eating through her eyes –

"AHHHH!" Fear zapped him into motion, he struck something warm and soft and horror doused his insides because Sylvia – dead! And he fell to the dust in his escape, had to flee, had to run-

"Hey, whoa, whoa, buddy-"

A hand on his back immediately froze him in place. Another half-strangled scream wrenched brokenly from his throat, "don't," he begged, waiting for claws to clamp down on him and do something awful.

"Wander! Hey!"

He writhed beneath the touch.

"Wander!" a hard shake. "It's me, buddy, it's Sylvia, c'mon-"

Tiny gasps conjured puffs of ashy dust from the ground. Realization was slow to come, but humiliation followed swift on its heels. The sky was almost black when he finally opened his eyes.

Sylvia removed her hand, and Wander dearly wished that wasn't so relieving. He sat up, avoiding her eyes. "Gosh, I'm sorry Syl…" he chuckled weakly, still catching his breath. "That must've looked real silly, huh?"

"Silly?" At first bemusement, then anger. "There's nothing silly about that, Wander! You scared the flarpin' bejeezus outta me! I couldn't wake you up and, you were screaming and crying –"

His cheeks heated ferociously beneath his fur. "I'm sorry, Syl, I didn't wanna bug ya or disturb your sleep or nothing.' I promise if y'go back to sleep, I'll be real –"

She yanked him into a tight hug; for half a second fear shot through his system like electricity tiredly running a familiar circuit, then he relaxed into her grasp. _Safe_ , he tried to tell himself, with marginal success.

"Don't even start," Sylvia said roughly. "You don't gotta apologize for a single thing, you hear me? I don't wanna hear that, 'cause none of this is your fault."

"I went to her ship," Wander pointed out meekly. "You were plannin' an attack, an' I went to her ship."

Sylvia gave him a dangerous look. "And you tried your Grop-darned hardest to do the right thing. You've got a good heart, Wander – the kindest one I've ever known! - and that's _never_ a bad thing. _She's_ the bad thing, and nothing makes what she did to you okay. But you're out now, and I've got you." She averted her eyes. "Don't wanna get too sappy here, Wander, but you're my best bed. Grop, if you need my help every night for the next ten years, I'll be there. I'll buy a dozen alarm clocks if it means making sure I'm awake to help you."

* * *

About an hour and a lot of cuddling later, Sylvia fell asleep again. Her soft breathing made the only noise at all on this dead planet, except maybe for the winds hissing through ash.

Wander returned his attention to the single flower amongst the desolate empty wasteland, and something in his heart grew heavy. It was battered by the wind here, day after day, in a place as silent and alone as a place could be. An entire planet, once teeming with an enormous vivacious variety of life. Now, nothing. Nothing at all but rock and ash. Not just one planet, though. Every planet. An entire galaxy.

Wander wondered about just how many people that was, and then decided to never wonder that again.

He didn't sleep that night.

* * *

"To the Secret Planet!" Sylvia was trying very hard to be cheerful after seeing Wander's exhausted, deadened eyes. He sat at the remains of their long-extinguished fire, while Sylvia stretched and readied her saddle bags.

The sky was a toneless grey-white, and he worriedly observed the flower. "Do y'think it'll die here?"

"Whu-? Oh. No! No, of course not Wander. I mean, look at it –" she too surveyed its wilting, droopy state. "Weeell, it's just gotta get some sun. It'll perk right back up once the sun's at its height. It'll thrive here – no competition for sunlight, right?"

"What if it's too much sunlight?"

"No-oo…." she shook her head as if the remark was absolutely absurd. "Hey, it wouldn't have grown here in the first place if it didn't like it here! Look how big it's gotten! I'm sure it'll do just fine."

Wander had to agree she had a point, but he still worried.

"I don't have any food," Sylvia said, "But once we reach the secret planet, you'll get all the food you need. And we'll find someone who can check out that leg."

"It don't hurt so much anymore," Wander said.

"Well, we're still finding a doctor," she said firmly, with no room for argument. "For your fingers, too."

He'd forgotten those were broken. There were still little string-bean remnants of the bandages they'd been wrapped in, sticking to his fingers and gumming up his fur, but for the most part the battle with Dominator had torn this away. The swelling had also gone down a lot, and it really didn't hurt him that much anymore.

The missing teeth bothered him more now, mostly 'cause of the way she'd stuck her tongue through the gaps.

Experimentally, he slipped two fingers through his lips and wiggled them through the sizeable gap in his teeth. His tongue easily met the tip of his fingers, despite his teeth being clenched tight closed.

"What are you doing?" Sylvia asked in a voice a tad nervous.

He quickly pulled his fingers out. "I sure hope Hater's okay." He said, very sincerely.

"He's got the watchdogs," Sylvia answered, still eyeing him cautiously. "They'll help him cope. C'mon, Wander." She scooped him up and placed him in the saddle.

Wander settled himself as comfortably as he could, ignoring the pain in his leg. He continued, "It's gotta be real hard on him. I didn't know two people who need each other so much – even if they didn't always know it."

"Like us?" teased Sylvia, and her mangled dream-corpse flashed into his mind.

"Like us," he answered, and hugged her neck.

"D'aw, now you're turning it even cheesier."

"Sylvia?"

"Mm?"

"I'm mighty glad we're friends."

"Me too, bud." She turned away from the lone flower, and from the dead planet, and set off into space.


	15. Chapter 15

"Wander?"

 _Hey Wander, I have a new game~_

"Buddy, wake up-"

 _just stick out your tongue-_

"Wander!"

"Hrmf?" Wander jerked upright in the saddle, blinking blurriness from his eyes.

"We're about there." Sylvia gestured, and sure enough, there was a sight so achingly warm, so comforting: one humble verdant planet cozily embraced by the shadows of two others. The secret planet. The one place Dominator had not yet reached, the one planet so modest and quiet that not even she could find it. Soft relief fanned outward from his heart, and he slumped gratefully, petting Sylvia's comb.

"Gosh, it feels like comin' home, doesn't it?" Home to Wander usually was more about people than places. But maybe the Secret Planet was an exception, 'cause it meant both a place and people. It sure would be nice to feel safe.

"It really does," she agreed.

It was quiet, out in space, with blackness engulfing everything, and only a few very distant stars twinkling. Sylvia made no move towards the secret planet. After a moment's pause, she mustered the courage to utter, "….Wander?"

"Mmh, what's buzzin' in your noggin?"

"What are we gonna tell them all?"

"Whaddaya mean, Syl?" His chipper tone had never sounded so fake.

"About what happened." Sylvia swallowed. "Why you're hurt."

Wander's fingers toyed with the bottom of Sylvia's comb. "We don't gotta tell 'em nothin'."

"Wander, we've been gone for a week. They knew you went to Dominator's ship, and they knew I went after you… They're gonna wanna know."

Wander flinched, and his answer took a long time to form, "Then, we'll say it's 'cause I got in a fight with her, and you an' Peepers an' Hater came t'save me."

Sylvia could see why he would want to say that. It wasn't necessarily a lie, but it also wasn't the whole truth. "All right," she eyed him worriedly. "But, between you and me…. What _did_ happen?"

"Gosh." Wander avoided her gaze and shifted uneasily in the saddle. She felt sick to her stomach. What was so terrible that he couldn't share it with her?

"You know I'm not gonna judge you, right?" she said carefully.

"It's not that-" his voice sounded tight, constricted.

"Then what is it?"

He clenched one hand on the saddle and his teeth sunk into his lower lip.

"Whoa, Wander, hey-"

"There's nothin' much more to it," he eked out, several words wobbling into high octaves. "Just – hangin' around her ship, and then you saved me. I'm real grateful for that, Sylvia."

 _Hanging around_. That's how he phrased it. As if he and Dominator were just pals having a good time. But she had been _hurting_ him and _badly_ and he hadn't slept at all last night, not that she had seen, and…

She rubbed between her eyes in frustration, and an overwhelming urge to punch Dominator. "All right, fine. But if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here, you know that, right?"

"Uhhuh."

Figuring that was the best she'd be able to get out of him, Sylvia started to descend towards the planet's surface.

Wander added, real quick, "Can you not tell anyone I'm hurt?"

It occurred to Sylvia that he had wanted to ask this for a long time. "Wander, someone needs to treat your wounds…" she frowned as her feet hit solid ground, and she trotted towards the little wooden shack that she herself had constructed and set up (the shack that, of course, concealed a large, mostly underground sprawl of rooms).

"I'm doin' all right. Dominator already fixed them, mostly."

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly trust _her_ ," Sylvia snapped, with more aggression than intended, and Wander winced. She forced her next words to be softer, "Look, we don't have to go parading around that you're hurt, but at least someone needs to take a look at you."

She stopped before the wooden door to the shack, and Wander sighed. "Well, if you think that's what's best."

"I do." She rapped twice on the door firmly. There wasn't a reply immediately; in the interim, she craned her head back to Wander. "Maybe we can get in without attracting too much attention, and get you fixed up before we meet with anyone else."

Wander nodded, and Sylvia pretended not to notice the way he scrunched his injured leg closer to his body, as if trying to hide it beneath his furry skirt.

The sliding hatch on the door snapped open. A crown appeared, then muffled talking. Sylvia heard, "a stool, please?" and then more shuffling.

Finally, King Bingleborp reached a height suitable to the eye slot. "Hello, what's the pass-" His eyes went round. He vanished from the slot.

"Uh?" Sylvia blinked. Okay? Where had he –

"WANDER AND SYLVIA ARE BACK!" King Bingleborp screeched from behind the door.

A collective hurrah pulsed inside the shack, and Sylvia cringed. So much for a stealthy entrance.

The door was thrown open, and King Bingleborp ushered them inside while other refugees poured in from other rooms, hubbub growing louder in their excitement with folks mumbling and chattering and chirping. Swiftly the area was flooded with people. The door shut behind Sylvia, and she felt oddly trapped within the pleasantly yellow-lit cavern, hundreds of eyes from dozens of different planets eagerly staring at them.

Faint possessiveness prickled in her chest: Wander needed help, not a ton of people unaware of what had happened to him.

Wander, evidently, didn't agree. "Heya everyone!" based on those two words, he had a classic Wander grin plastered on his face. "I'm mighty glad to see you all again!"

"Our heroes!" someone shouted, to which Wander replied, "aw, shucks," but people kept piping up, "we were so worried!" and another, "I knew you'd make it back all right!"

"Welcome back! Yes, very good you've returned!" King Bingleborp cried over the din, and then grabbed Sylvia's saddle blanket to peer intently at Wander, "So did you defeat her!? Is the villainous conqueror gone for good!?"

Suddenly, Wander's mood didn't seem so perfect. "Ah, uh-"

"You can't tell us you didn't stop her!"

"We fought Dominator," Sylvia broke in, "but we barely escaped. Remember, the mission was rescuing Wander, _not_ stopping Dominator."

King Bingleborp leaned closer to Wander. "But you were on Lord Dominator's ship, weren't you? Did you learn anything about her defenses, or any weaknesses we can exploit?"

"Hey!" Sylvia felt Wander freeze up in the saddle. "That's enough! There wasn't any time for us to look for weaknesses! There's nothing more we could have done. We can try again, with more people, but –" she faltered. "Right now we just need" _time for Wander to heal_ "a break," she finished lamely.

"What's wrong with your leg?" one tiny large-eyed child uttered, and the hubbub spread;

"It ain't nothin' too bad-" Wander's tiny voice tried to say, but noise in the cavern swelled again –

"Wander's hurt!"

"Oh, poor dear, it must have been a difficult battle-"

"Against Lord Dominator, what can you expect?"

"Probably lucky to make it out alive-"

"Oh, but is he okay?"

"I can't see what's wrong, can you see?"

"Okay, okay!" Sylvia raised in her hands in a placating gesture. "Uh, yeah, Wander got a bit scraped up fighting Dominator, but really, he's going to be fine. We could use some medical attention, though. Anybody know first aid?"

The talking died down to a murmur, then silence. Dozens of eyes flicked between each other, as if they could seek out a medical expert by sight.

"Anyone?" Sylvia whined.

Scowling, Ripov finally jerked her hand up. "I can." Those around her looked at her in bewilderment, and she crossed her arms fiercely. "Acid burns, broken bones, that kinda crud. Getting hurt is in my line of work. So is taking care of it."

"Great! Everybody else, we can talk later. Ripov?" Sylvia nodded to an adjoining room, where hopefully they could get some privacy.

The bounty hunter jerked her chin in a gesture of assent.

"But wait –" King Binglebop waggled his arms. "You can't just come in and say nothing about what happened! You were gone for days!"

"A lot happened, all right?"

"But what about Dominator!"

Sylvia's hand tightened into a fist. "Look, pal. My mission was to rescue Wander, and _that_ is all I needed to accomplish."

Something about her must have made an impression on King Binglebop, for he stepped aside, "ah yes, of course, best to – to get him looked at, yes-"

"Trust me, we'll update all of you guys later," Sylvia said. "But no, we didn't learn anything new about Dominator." _Except how much of an awful person she is._

Sylvia worked her way to the adjoining room, avoiding as many questions as possible, and sighed in relief once she slipped in. Boy, this was already turning out to be an overwhelming mess. At least now they were hidden and safe from Dominator, instead of wandering about in the galaxy. But it would be hard to fend off so many curious people.

This room clearly served as a bedroom and living room mixed together. Blankets and cloth were knotted into hammocks and set up in varying alcoves around the walls, while the middle area had a red plush couch and a low standing table.

Sylvia carefully removed Wander from her saddle and placed him on the couch. He bounced on it, and gave a ridiculous, ill-suited grin.

Ripov closed the door behind them, and crossed her arms. "Seems like you don't want a lot of questions."

Sylvia snorted.

"Everyone's gonna wanna know what happened."

"We fought Dominator, that's all. So how good are you at taking care of injuries?"

"I'm not a doctor," Ripov said, "but I've got more in-field experience than anybody else out there, so that's something."

That was probably going to have to be good enough.

Ripov turned her attention to the most obvious injury on Wander's body. "Is this about your leg?"

"Weeee-eell, I'm really not doin' too badly," Wander said matter-of-factly. "I've mostly been managin' all right-"

"He can't walk on that leg," Sylvia interjected.

"I'll bet." Ripov knelt beside him and squinted at the affected limb. There wasn't any fur to speak of in the area, and his skin had turned a disturbing mottled grey. "A burn, right?"

Wander nodded meekly.

"From lava," Sylvia added flatly.

"This is old, too. Several days old, at least. Aaand this is more recent." Ripov pointed just above the burn injury, where there was a splotch of matted blood.

Sylvia shuddered. That particular wound she had been there to witness – that was from the icicle Dominator had dug into his thigh.

Ripov's appraisal moved to his fingers, which still had little strings of bandages stuck to them. "And _this_ was treated days ago."

Sylvia put her hands on her hips.

"So we're pretending this is all from a fight?" Ripov began to tug bandages and rubbing alcohol from her pants pockets.

"It is," Sylvia ground out.

Ripov shrugged. She ignored the large burn at first, in favor of cleaning out and bandaging the stab wound on his thigh. As she worked, she said flatly, "There's nothing inside her. I watched her destroy my own planet. She was laughing while people burned." Ripov gritted her teeth. "Friends, family – doesn't mean anything to her. Just something to destroy. I was lucky to get out myself."

A few moments of silence, then Ripov knotted the last bandage and stood. "I'm sorry for what happened to you. Never knew you that well, but nobody deserves this."

Wander, for once, didn't seem to know how to reply, and before he could, Ripov turned her attention to his fingers. "Like I thought, looks like the bones have been reset…."

"She did that," Wander uttered.

Sylvia startled – she had thought the watchdogs reset the bones. ""To hurt it more?" Sylvia asked in bewilderment.

"No, she was tryin' to heal 'em."

Sylvia looked disturbed, and on the brink of correcting Wander that no, Dominator wouldn't do that, and _don't you dare think she has a good bone in her body –_

Wander spared her the effort by adding, "I know it wasn't outta niceness or nothin'."

Ripov's eyes traveled slowly between Wander and Sylvia, reading the situation. "Well," she said carefully, "there's nothin' to do except bind them together to keep them straight. But the swelling is minor. They're well on their way to healing."

"I do heal fast!"

As Ripov wrapped his fingers, Sylvia asked anxiously, "so what can you do to fix his leg?"

"Not much."

"What?" Sylvia uncrossed her arms, "Then I'm gonna find someone who can."

"Look all you want, but this burn goes through the muscle. You can't fix that."

"Well then what _can_ we do?" Sylvia grumbled, her anger mounting at the idea Dominator had caused irrevocable damage.

"Only thing to do is take out the dead flesh," Ripov admitted reluctantly. "It's preventing the healthy tissue from healing right. Can infect the rest of the leg if we don't do something about it."

Wander looked horrified, and craned away from his leg as if he wished it were not part of his body. "Gosh, I didn't know that could happen – the Watchdogs just said to wrap it and wait for it to heal!"

"Maybe they didn't know much about burns," Ripov grabbed her own wrist and a haunted look went into her eyes. "But I've seen them before. Necrotic flesh can infect healthy tissue, invade your body, cause sores and sickness-"

Wander let out an " _Eep_!" and shrank away from Ripov. Sighing, Sylvia placed a gentle hand on his head and ruffled his hair.

"All right, cut the dramatics."

Ripov shook her head. "Right. Yeah." She pulled out a knife. "We need to take out the tissue."

"Whoa, whoa!" Sylvia leapt in front of Wander. "What are you doing?"

Ripov glared. "Didn't you hear me? It's not doing him any good to have a bunch of dead skin and muscle – you can't heal that."

"Well what's it gonna look like after? You're gonna take off pieces of his leg!"

"It's to prevent worse things from happening."

"No, no, no." Sylvia crossed her arms firmly. "I get why, but-" Wander literally had just returned from Dominator's ship; bringing knives of all things into the deal, just – no. "We're not doing that."

Wander laid a hand on Sylvia's shoulder, and she half-turned back to him, a helpless expression on her face. It hurt something deep to see him, fur ruffled and matted, and his eyes more exhausted than she had ever seen them.

But his expression was certain. "It's all right, Syl. Like she said, it ain't doin' me any good anyway. I'd rather just get off any ol' skin that's not doing anything, and then the rest can heal up the way it's suppos'd to."

" _No_." Sylvia faced Ripov sternly. "At least, not right now. Give him a day or two to settle in, at least!"

"It doesn't bug me," Wander said, "if it's the right thing to do to get my leg to heal."

But how was that possible? It _had_ to be bothering him, and he just wasn't sharing. Sylvia gritted her teeth and wanted to shake some sense into Wander. Before he'd been flinching at her touch alone, and now he was just fine with Ripov cutting into his leg?

"Another day," Sylvia said firmly, and Ripov saluted lazily.

Sylvia looked on worriedly as Ripov gave Wander a walking stick, and the furry nomad hobbled back out to enthusiastically greet the crowd. Oh grop, she had a bad feeling about all of this…


	16. Chapter 16

Wander was old, according to the lifespans of all other people and creatures he had ever encountered. He didn't feel old, at least, not most of the time, but if ever he sat down to ponder it (which he did only rarely) he could admit that he had lived for hundreds of years (and if he ever sat down to ponder it, which he never did, he knew he could be expected to live for hundreds more).

He didn't remember his childhood, that was something. Once, he used to reach his mind out like a net, and capture all the memories he could still recall from his youth. He'd replay them over and over, as if doing so would preserve those nostalgic sights, sounds, and emotions, for an eternity. As if doing so would preserve the unusual and mystical power they held over him, as all fond old memories hold.

For a while, this worked. Wherever he roamed, he carried with him the metaphorical net of his youth, which became more and more treasured with reflection. But time passed. Tiny details slipped through the holes of the net. He was aware of pieces missing, but never could recover what had been lost.

And time passed. Newer memories became older ones. Older ones became distant ones. Distant ones quietly faded. The last fragments slipped from the net.

There were two ways to approach this – with despair, or with hope, and so Wander chose hope (maybe after a few years of despair). The formative years of his life may have been eaten by time (he couldn't remember his planet, his parents, his original friends, if he had any at all), but he could remember what it was that had always mattered the most to him: people. The people you met along the way, the people you helped, the people you traveled with. That was what mattered.

He was happiest around people.

That's who he was, that's who he had always been.

So when he was on the one single refuge of a distraught galaxy, with all its surviving inhabitants around him, he should be happy. He really, really, _really_ should be.

These were his friends, there were the people he had most recently committed himself to helping, and he loved seeing each face as much as the next. He had in fact, been brimming with excitement to return to them and to feel safe on the Secret Planet.

But he didn't feel happy. He didn't feel safe. And that was _wrong._

"We remembered your wise lesson, Heroic Wander," Prince Cashmere was saying, "but Dominator turned out to be a very different threat! Once the food sack of Thuringian was demolished, we fled our planet, but we were hailed down by Beeza and her Fleas – what a brave people! Together with them we sought safety here, only to learn it was your doing that this planet existed for our safety!"

"Weeeeell, I didn't _make_ the planet," Wander didn't feel safe at all and that made no sense, because he was here with friends. Prince Cashmere, like several had already done just before him, was simply relaying the story of how he ended up on the Secret Planet, and it made sense that after all the loss these people had experienced, they'd want to share their story with the person who they felt had helped them so much through other trying times. Perhaps they expected his help again, to comfort them and give them a new direction to go?

But the thought of this didn't invigorate him the way it usually did – instead it clenched tight under his ribs like a vice, and send fear pumping from his heart. The mere prospect of them needing him made his breath shallow and short. "It's really Syl you ought to thank," he forced out, because the last thing these destitute people needed was him breaking down. "She's the one who stumbled by this planet, and she's the one who built up this shack, 'cause she knew I'd end up invitin' all my friends."

"Ah, Mighty Sylvia!" Prince Cashmere huffed in fond recollection, "She too is brave! I, and everyone here, have eternal gratitude for the both of you."

"Aw, shucks." Wander shifted the walking stick in his hand and averted his eyes.

"What about you?" King Draykor said in his usual gravely voice. "Many of our stories are more of the same – Dominator came, and destroyed our planet, and our survivors fled." Draykor squeezed Demurra's hand, as if the memory still disturbed him, and she patted his arm. "But you went on board her ship, or so they say!"

The gathered people; Prince Cashmere, King Draykor, Princess Demurra, Destructor, and dozens others, all had their intent attention on Wander, and the suffocating feeling in his ribs heightened.

"That's right," Stella Starbella declared with awe. "Now, I've faced many fiendish foes, but I don't know if even I would be brave enough to board _that_ ship. However did you survive?"

"No chance you convinced her to be good?" Destructor asked hopefully.

"You did get hurt," Stella said, worriedly appraising his leg. "You sure that bounty hunter fixed you up all right? It sure looks like it needs more -" she reached toward the leg, and Wander yelped, skittering back.

"Yup, yup, Ripov definitely knows what she's doing, it's totally fine!"

"I'll pummel Dominator to dirt for all she's done," Badlands Dan muttered, pounding his fist. "Friends protect friends."

Wander nodded weakly and emitted an involuntary, high pitch whine. _Relax relax relax_ nothing scary at all was going on and he had no reason to be so high strung, no reason to panic. The crowd of people could seem suffocating, trapping him in the room, but that wasn't true – these were his friends, and he always loved being around his friends, and they shouldn't seem intimidating or overwhelming. He shouldn't feel anxious at the prospect of helping them, either, because helping was what he _did_ , it was everything about him: if Wander didn't help and if he didn't have his hat, was he even Wander at all?

"Hey man," Jeff shifted up from the group and placed his hand on Wander's shoulder; it took more than Wander was willing to admit to not flinch. He remembered slightly too late that Jeff had some ability to read minds, and then he immediately tried to shut down on any revealing thoughts.

If Jeff read any of them, he made no comment. "Everyone here has got something to thank you for," Jeff drawled, his expression fixed in a blissed-out contentment. "And if some bad stuff happened to you, we're gonna understand. Sometimes you gotta really process, you know, man? Just sit back, and let time do the healing."

And now Wander was concerned that Jeff had seen something after all. "I'm fine!" Wander squeaked, writhing out from under Jeff's hand. "Totally fine! Wow, I've never been so fine! I'M NOT SCARED!"

"Whoa man…." Jeff's head bobbed to the amassed people, "give the little guy and I some time to talk."

The others looked worriedly amongst themselves, but obediently cleared out, until it was only Wander and Jeff left in that particular room. Jeff guided Wander to a table and sat him down; Wander leaned the walking stick against the table and did his best to avoid Jeff's gaze.

"Something's really got you tangled up," Jeff said, and when Wander tensed, he added, "I don't need to know, man. Sometimes it helps to share. Sometimes? It doesn't." Jeff spread his palms out in an accepting gesture. "You do what works for you, man. Do what feels right." Jeff levitated a glass of apple juice from across the room, and set it in front of Wander.

Wander looked down at his hands, knotting together his fingers nervously and sending small twinges of pain through the broken ones.

"I don't know what will work," he yelped, tone wavering. "She – she's not… golly." He hesitated one second more, staring fixedly at his hands, and the words spilled, "she ain't like you, or Hater, or anyone else I'd met. I-I don't think she's got some deep loneliness, I don't think she's evil 'cause she hates herself, or 'cause she's lost, or 'cause no one's ever shown her kindness."

Jeff nodded patiently.

"What if – what if someone people are just evil?" Wander shrank into himself.

"That's heavy," Jeff answered, eyes troubled. "But if some people are just evil, you need to roll with it. You need to stop trying to help them. You need to help the people that they hurt, you feel me?"

Again, the thought of helping the refugees both appealed to him and terrified him. He met Jeff's eyes with this conflicting emotion. "I-don't-know-if-I-can."

"'Course you can. You're my good pal Tumbleweed. Or Wander, now. I learned everything I know about helping from you. Man, my life is changed 'cause of you."

Wander squeaked and furiously tangled his fingers together. "I-couldn't-help-her."

"But you helped everybody else."

That made sense, of course it made sense – he should remember that he could be helpful, that he was always helpful – until Dominator. Until she not only didn't need or want his help, but his desire to help did nothing but draw her attention in the worst of ways.

"She-hurt-me," Wander rushed to say, and then immediately launched into more words, as if he could erase what he had said, "I thought we got out, and that meant it'd be over, and she wouldn't bother me any more, but then I couldn't sleep and that's _okay_ it was just that night, it's nothin' too bad," his voice leapt up an octave and never quite returned to the original pitch, "but then every time someone touches me it's-like-she's-still-there and she's _not_ she's _gone_ and she-can't-find-us-here-" His jaw clenched and his eyes widened because _whatifshedid_ and _woulditbehisfault_ and _hecouldn'tfaceheragain_.

"So it's really just silly," Wander burst out, much much louder than he intended. Flinching, he adjusted his volume, "I didn't spend barely a week on her ship– what's – what's a few days to hundreds of years?" He laughed hoarsely, eyes darting. "It's nothing, it's nothing! It's nothing, it's nothing, it's nothing –"

He accidentally twisted one of his broken fingers too hard, "Ah! Oh…" another uneasy giggle. "I wasn't paying attention."

Jeff blinked slowly. "Whoa."

"But it's nothing," Wander said frantically. "I just, gotta get back to being my good 'ol Wandery self and then I can help – I can help everybody! I can – I can get my hat back, and be _me_ and I'll help every single person!" His mind tried to remind himself that if he helped every person, that meant he'd be helping Dominator and _can you really do that, really?_ And he shut down hard on that thought, "Everybody, every person!"

"Sometimes, the helper needs help." Jeff reached out as if to touch Wander, then quietly withdrew his hand, remembering. "While you're here, let people help you. Accept you need it. Don't worry about taking care of everybody."

Wander nearly bit through his lip. He nodded weakly. "Sure. Easy-peasy. I'll do that. 'xcept I really ought to help someone. Just one person, maybe. T'make sure I still can."

"Hey man, you know something? You're helping every one of us here, right now. We're all here in this shelter because of you. Without you…" Jeff paused. "We'd be dust specks in space now. You're doing a great thing."

"I just couldn't let you guys suffer, when Syl and I found such a perfect planet-"

"That's what makes you the best helper," Jeff said sagely, "when there's someone in need of help, there isn't any choice for you if you should or not. And when someone really needs help again, you're gonna be there. But for now? Take some time to be yourself. Reflect. Just breathe."

Wander nodded meekly.

"You let me know if you need to talk it out again." Jeff smiled wistfully. "Mustard or mayo, mustard or mayo? Hah, I owe the most to you, little buddy. So I'm always here for you."

Jeff left, and Wander gazed after him, feeling more lost than he ever had before. Before Dominator, Major Threat had been the biggest, baddest villain he'd ever tried to befriend. But it had worked. He was Jeff now, and mellow, and easy-going, always looking for the best in people.

Seeing him – seeing everyone – felt weird. Because he didn't feel like himself. It was like they all knew him, or knew some form of him, but he struggled to relate to the person that they knew.

 _An enemy is just a friend you haven't made yet._

But not always. Most of the time, sure. But not always.

It was hard now, to say some absolute statement like that, knowing there was a revision tacked on, a subtitle of _except sometimes_. Because he wasn't the Wander who believed in it 100%, he was the _except sometimes_ Wander, that had met someone he couldn't fix, and he had given up. He was the _except sometimes_ Wander that faced a wall he couldn't surmount, and he was the _except sometimes_ Wander that got swift and brutal punishment for his naiveté.

It shouldn't matter. He should perk right up and go along his way, just the same as before, and do his best to help as many people as he could.

Instead….. instead he sat here, staring without seeing, and feeling like he wasn't himself at all. Scared, flinching from touch, frightened of helping lest the repercussions strike him. No hat.

No, he didn't feel like Wander. Not for one bit.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** Hello all! I'm back! I had massive trouble writing this chapter despite its relative simplicity, and ended up enlisting the help of the wonderful Beans to get it finished. This chapter was a collaborative effort between her and I, and I want to give her a huge thanks firstly for writing a good portion of it, and secondly for helping me grasp the characters' emotions better. Thanks Beans c:

Also, I'm not entirely satisfied with the last two chapters, but for now I'll just be moving forward to write the rest of the story, rather than focusing on editing previous chapters. It took me some time to get my feet under me with Wander no longer being around Dominator. X]

* * *

Sylvia paced back and forth while Ripov watched her raptly.

"We need to strike, as soon as possible – _now_ if we can."

"What makes _now_ less likely for us to all get skewered?"

"She's weaker." Sylvia fixed her gaze on Ripov. "When we left her ship, she was – I mean, she had been _shot_ , she was bleeding, she didn't look good."

Ripov's eyebrows shot up. "No chance she just kicked the bucket after you left?"

Sylvia rubbed her arm. "Doubt it. She was still vertical, and we barely got out."

"She just doesn't die."

"But she _can_ be killed." Sylvia hesitated as her mind flitted to Wander. The little furball wasn't going to like that. He understood that Dominator wouldn't stop unless someone stopped _her_ , but actually hearing of deliberate intent might be difficult for him. At this point, Sylvia thought he would accept it, but accepting something is very different than being okay with it.

Truthfully, after her pacifistic sojourns with Wander, even Sylvia wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of _killing._ Fighting, sure. But coming in with intent to kill? It didn't make her feel good inside.

"We proved on the ship she's not some immortal untouchable monster or anything," Sylvia continued, doing her best to shake away the ugly feeling settling in her stomach. "All of us managed to hurt her in some way – even Wander. I bet if we strike soon, we could overwhelm her."

"Before her own injuries heal…" Ripov nodded. "That would be smart. But what about her entire bot army? Her weakness is only an advantage for us if we can get past the bots."

Sylvia chewed her lip. "No, we can make this work. Maybe we need multiple groups. Jeff, Starbella and you have ships. We'll dodge her lasers and board her ship. Two groups will distract the bots, and another will go after Dominator herself."

"That might just work, if we load enough people onto those ships."

"But we can't bring Wander," Sylvia suddenly added. "At all. He can't go back on that ship. Someone – someone should stay back and look after him." Worry deepened in her brow. Oh, Wander. Whether or not he liked the plan, he might want to come along with them, to look after them… It was just the sort of thing he'd do, despite being so injured.

Ripov nodded. "Someone can stay."

"Someone strong," Sylvia supplied. "Who can protect him if anything goes wrong."

"Most fighters should be on board Dominator's ship," Ripov pointed out. "We can't really spare anybody – especially not you, Sylvia."

Sylvia started in surprise. "I didn't – I mean, I'm going to be right there with you guys, taking out Dominator. But someone else strong." Sylvia chewed her lip. At this point, she wasn't sure she'd be satisfied with _anyone_ else looking after Wander. What if something happened to him? What if they couldn't protect him?

"Hey." Ripov interjected. "He'll be fine. He'll be safe, hidden here. It's us we ought to worry about once we leave this planet."

"Yeah…." Sylvia cringed as she thought again of Wander's injuries. So much had happened in such a short time aboard that awful ship…

"Sylvia," Ripov snapped, "keep it together. We need a plan, and we need _everyone_ to be focused if we're going to take her down."

Sylvia nodded, temporarily pushing aside her worries for Wander. "Right. Let's call everyone together and-"

"No."

"What?"

Ripov pointed a finger at Sylvia. "You need a break."

"What?" Sylvia looked indignant. "I don't need a break – I'm ready to take her on, right now!"

Ripov quirked a brow. "Yeah, all right. You look about ready to drop, and you're all scratched up too. We can't just run after her unprepared and exhausted. Give it a day. Tomorrow night, we'll talk to everyone. Get the plan set. And we'll track her down."

* * *

The next morning, Sylvia awoke suddenly to the sound of a banjo playing. She – and Wander also – had found a free room near the back of the shack's admittedly enormous internal area. The room was barely more than an egg-shaped dead end of a cave, but Wander insisted they take this room rather than any of the occupied rooms the refugees readily offered up to trade him.

"I'm _not_ gonna take anyone's home away," Wander had said firmly. Sylvia had to restrain herself from reminding Wander that they had built the entire shack and deserved a little better than the darkest, barest corner of the place. It was just a testament to his good nature that after everything, he still wanted the best for everyone around him.

The refugees happily gathered flowers and tiny trinkets to decorate the dead-end room, and did their best to spruce up the place for Wander and Sylvia.

It was to this flower-choked tiny room that Sylvia woke, crammed uncomfortably in a cot against the wall, while Wander's music bounced almost eerily off the naked floor and ceiling.

Wander sat at the edge of the cot, tapping his good foot and humming to the tune he strummed. Sylvia couldn't help noticing he held his bad leg awkwardly still, and the concentrated look in his face suggested he was trying to hide how much it hurt.

"G'morning, Syl!" he chimed cheerfully once he noticed she was awake.

Sylvia sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, pushing aside her irritation at the uncomfortable sleeping location. "Hey, buddy, how're you feeling?"

He smiled wide, placing his banjo to the side of him. "'M doin' pretty great!" She knew he was lying, but didn't press the matter further.

Looking into his eyes, however, she could tell he had built emotional walls around himself. Whatever happened on that ship must've been really bad.

Wander's face grew worried. "Hey, Syl, are ya hungry? I can go make us some food if ya'd like."

"N-no, I'm fine," she said, though she was feeling a bit peckish.

He cocked his head sideways, reaching for his walking stick.

"How about, _I_ go whip us up some grub, and you stay put?" she asked hastily: she wasn't about to let her best friend hurt himself just to take care of her.

"Wouldn't ya need any help though?" he asked, using the walking stick to lift himself off the cot. He winced as he placed a small amount of weight on his bad leg, but his face swiftly snapped back to normal.

"No," she responded, "I'll be fine getting food on my own."

Wander hobbled closer to her. "Are ya okay?"

' _Classic wander…_ ' she thought, ' _even when he's in pain, he still cares about everyone else_.' She felt so terrible, however, for everything that he had been through. ' _I'm gonna do whatever it takes_. _I'm gonna **stop** Dominator_.'

"I'm fine; go sit back down and rest," she responded.

Wander's face fell. "I could go and... _not_ help," he said hopefully.

"Buddy, you're going to help and you know it. I got this."

"Okay, Syl, I know y'can do this on your own," he replied. His standing position didn't falter, however, and she could sense, regardless of his words, that he was going to end up following her anyway.

As she began walking out of the room, she glanced over her shoulder. He was still standing there, smiling from ear to ear.

Her heart swelled. He was so…. so _good_. Kind-spirited and ever-benevolent in a way she had never seen in any one else before him. Always trying to make everyone around him happy. She just… wished that she could do something to make _him_ really happy. No, not even that. She would settle with just helping him feel safe.

"I'll be right back," Sylvia told him.

She wound her way through the shack, dodging questions and people as best she could, and slipped out the front door.

Some of the trees in the area had begun producing fruit, so finding food for herself and Wander wasn't going to be difficult. She stopped herself for a moment.

"Wander deserves more than just fruit," she said to herself. If she had the resources, she'd provide him with an entire buffet. She'd have it filled with all the food he enjoyed, and just let him eat until his heart's content. Fruit wasn't going to be enough for him.

"I like fruit jus' fine!" a voice chimed up from behind her.

She rolled her eyes involuntarily. Obviously, it was Wander, trying to help even though she didn't need it. "Wander! What are you doing here?!"

"Weeeeellll," his voice became higher pitched toward the end, "I reckon I can't jus' let my best buddy go all by herself! An' I still got one functioning leg and two arms," he held out his arms for emphasis, stumbling a bit as he tried to balance himself on one leg, "so I can't jus' let ya go all by yaself!"

She smiled, despite how frustrated she was by his...constant needing to help. She just wanted him to feel better, physically. Maybe helping some folks could help him mentally. She quickly recalled the recent incident when the watchdogs had fixed him up a meal. How he'd fallen off the chair and threw up his cake. The way he hadn't really been sleeping much, and the weird way he'd been acting in general. She could _see_ everything Dominator did, but she didn't really _know_. And helping people was his _thing_ , maybe he could find some kind of solace in this, even though he wouldn't be much actual help climbing trees and gathering fruit.

"Wander…" she began, "you can help me then, if it'll make you feel better."

He beamed. "Thanks, Syl."

"Look, I'll climb up this tree and get ourselves a couple star fruits. I'll toss 'em down to you, and you can catch them for me. Sound good?"

Wander nodded enthusiastically. "Sure thing!"

Sylvia jumped onto one of the tree trunks, and began climbing. Wander knew he wouldn't be able to do that, even if he really tried. He stayed put beneath her as she ascended up the tree. But the further up she climbed, the more uneasiness settled into his bones. He and Sylvia were alone out here. It wasn't like in the shack, where they were surrounded by dozens of friends…. Out in the woods, they were entirely alone, and now Sylvia was getting further and further out of reach of him….

On the ground like this, there wasn't anyone able to help him if….. if _she_ …

Nausea began to creep up on him. The shadows beneath the trees suddenly seemed much larger, much darker, and Lord Dominator could be lurking anywhere, waiting for his solitude so she could strike….

His fight or flight instinct kicked in and he began scrambling up the tree, dropping his walking stick on the ground. Sylvia heard the small squeals of fear as they exited from his mouth, and she could hear them getting closer. She turned her head back, "Wander! You don't need to climb with me!"

"I want to anyway!" Wander yelled back, and he… he looked _terrified._

"Whoa buddy, what's wrong?" she clambered onto one of the branches, stood herself up, then reached a hand out for Wander to grab onto. He took it, holding a little too tightly, and pulled himself onto the branch with her.

Instead of answering, Wander buried his face against her fur and tears began to flow freely. Helplessly, Sylvia loosely embraced him.

"Wander…" she began, unable to get the words out. Why had this happened? He had been so fine just moments ago and now he was crying….

No, he hadn't _really_ been fine. She'd known that from the moment she woke up. But to break down like this so suddenly?

"H-hey, it's okay, buddy…." She soothed, petting down the soft fur on his back. Petting usually had a unique way of calming Wander, of making him all melty and happy. This time, the muscles in his back remained tense and quivering beneath her hand. Sylvia had never felt more helpless. "Just let it out…."

' _Please talk to me…_ '

' _Why are you crying?_ '

 _'What happened on that ship?'_

There was so much she wanted to ask him-so many questions she had for him, but she couldn't bring herself to try and force anything out of him. Right now he needed her support, not an interrogation.

The tears slowly subsided. Sylvia pulled back from the hug, cupping his head in her hand and lifting it up. He looked away from her, the fur on his cheeks matted from his tears. "'m sorry, Syl. Guess I missed ya more'n I thought."

"There's no need to apologize," Sylvia said, both stern and gentle. "You don't need to apologize about any of this. It's not your fault."

Fear flashed in his eyes, and Sylvia instantly regretted whatever it was in her words that had reminded him. "I missed you too," she added hurriedly. "I missed you a ton, buddy. And I'll protect you. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you again."

He nodded meekly, and the smile he offered was full of love. But his eyes were full of disbelief, and that broke her. Wander didn't think anyone could protect him.

It was tragically ironic that Sylvia had been afraid of the exact same thing the day before. Seeing her buddy so hurt had a way of shattering any belief that he could ever feel safe again.

Sylvia jerked her gaze away. "You and I need to get some food in our stomachs, all right? I could eat an entire tree at this point!"

Wander chuckled. " _Sylvia_! That doesn't sound good at all!"

"Well, then we'd better get some stuff that does." It was heartening to see Wander perk up a bit, but Sylvia knew better than ever that he was still hurting, and still hiding his hurt.

As she pulled clusters of star fruits from the branches and tossed them to the ground below, she stewed in her own doubt. How was Wander going to take the news that they were going after Dominator? And… after everything was over… was he going to be okay again?


	18. Chapter 18

Once enough fruits were gathered, Sylvia and Wander returned to the shack, where the cafeteria area was mostly empty, but for three or four stragglers. After they laid the fruits out on the table, Sylvia immediately dove into eating them with the zeal of a person who hadn't eaten in a day.

Wander, meanwhile, picked one up and made a great show out of polishing it and inspecting it for imperfections. In fact, he hadn't had a full meal since being on board Lord Hater's ship, and that was several days ago. So he was hungry, yes. But actually eating. That was a different thing.

It was a _normal_ thing. A _everybody-does-it-so-why-is-this-an-issue_ thing.

His tongue licked at the gaps in his teeth, and picked up the faintest vestige of blood.

"Everything okay there?" Sylvia reached as if to place her hand on his shoulder, and then, thinking better of it, withdrew.

"Uhhuh!" chirped Wander. "Everything's a-okay."

"It's…" Sylvia's eyes flitted to the fruits. "It's okay that they're fruits, right? If – if you want something else-"

Wander winced. "The fruits are great! Delicious!" For extra validity, Wander bit into the starfruit. Citric juices dribbled from the empty spaces where teeth were supposed to be, and Wander –

 _That's so gross. Lick it off!_

Licked it up, heat scrawling across his cheeks.

"You're sure, Wander?"

Wander provided an expression that hopefully looked more like a smile than a grimace. "Yum!"

"You'd let me know if it were a problem, right?" Sylvia said cautiously. "Like, like the cake?" her tone had that bemused edge that clearly implied she had no idea why a person might have an issue with eating something as simple as _cake,_ and Wander was already cringing in humiliation.

"It ain't like that," he muttered hastily.

Sylvia paused. He could see the question at the tip of her tongue. She wanted to know what had happened; why it was a problem at all.

Wander decided to not give her the chance to ask. "So!" he started, fixing on his most cheerful expression, "watcha plannin' on doing today, Syl?"

"What do _you_ wanna do?"

"Weeeell, how about we relax by the river and drink some fancy fruity drink with a tiny umbrella?"

"Wander, that's something _I'd_ want to do, not something _you'd_ want to do."

"But Sylvia, I'm happy to do whatever you wanna do."

"All right I see that's getting nowhere," Sylvia muttered. "How about you just start by eating another starfruit? You've gotta be hungry."

"Sure!" Wander grabbed another starfruit and was talking himself into eating it when a hand touched his shoulder. "Aauahh!" The starfruit went flying – and so did Wander, as he launched across the table and ended up in a tangled pile of limbs on the floor.

Ripov winced. "Oh, crud, sorry Wander-"

Sylvia glared.

"I said hey," Ripov muttered.

"Must've just not heard ya." Wander hurriedly righted himself before Sylvia could fuss over him. "It's no problem at all. Hullo, Ripov! Did y'want a fruit?" Wander snatched a starfruit and held it out, hoping that if he gave away enough of the fruits, there wouldn't be any left for Sylvia to tell him to eat.

Ripov shook her head. "Already ate. I'm just here to debride your leg, remember?"

"De- _what_ my leg?" he squealed.

"Get the dead tissue off. So it can heal right."

"Oh, right!"

Sylvia hovered over him, "is that okay, Wander? If you're not ready-"

"I'm ready." He patted Sylvia's hand for extra assurance, and smiled up at her. In this regard, he really was ready. Ripov had told him yesterday it wouldn't hurt, and he believed her. Anyway, even if it did, it wasn't going to be like what Dominator did to him. In fact, Wander didn't feel any fear or worry at all about Ripov carving off the ruined skin from his leg. He wasn't sure why – because it seemed like the sort of thing you should at least be a little nervous about – but he wasn't the least bit concerned.

"You're sure? I can stay with you-"

Wander shook his head. "That's all right, Syl! I'll find ya right after and we can have those fancy _extra_ fruity drinks with the little umbrellas!"

"I didn't agree to –" Sylvia sighed, defeated. "All right, Wander. We'll make our own better versions of them, all right?"

"Right!"

Ripov guided Wander back to Sylvia and Wander's room, likely to have a bit of privacy, and Wander shuffled a little closer to Ripov. He might not be scared of the procedure she was going to do, but being alone made him just a teensy tiny bit nervous.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," Ripov said, and Wander winced. Was his nervousness that obvious?

Once they reached the room, Wander clambered onto the cot and swung his good leg.

"It's not going to hurt," Ripov assured him again.

Wander wasn't sure he would have minded either way. "I appreciate y'doin' this for me," he said, as she settled by his leg and set her knife to the mottled black skin. "I didn't know all that awful stuff 'bout infections and nekr-nekrah-"

"Necrotic."

"Necrotic flesh. It's awful nice of ya t'look after me like this."

"Hey, it's what friends do, right?" she shot him a sideways half-smile. "I've heard everyone around the shack talking about you. No matter what's going on, you always want to help. Like some kinda hero."

Wander flushed. "Aw, that's not true – I jus' love helpin' folks."

Ripov offered a half shrug. "If you ask me, that's what heroes do."

"Pshhh, heroes are all about armor and waving swords, and – oh, like Sir Bradley Starlight!"

"I uh, don't know who that is."

"Well, he's a hero," Wander told her matter-of-factly. "An' he smooched a beautiful princess named Princess Remora, and they're just the best couple I've ever seen and boy, if you wanna meet 'em, I can introduce ya! I know he's around here s-"

"Wander, are you ever gonna talk about what happened?"

"With Brad and Remora's romance?" Wander squeaked.

Ripov shot him a flat, unamused look. "I'm not stupid, all right? I know you didn't get these injuries in a battle."

"Wh-wha?"

"I'm not going to force anything out of you."

"I don't know what ya mean, but that's a sudden change of topic-"

"I think it's something you gotta take time with," Ripov continued. "But here's the deal: keeping stuff quiet, pretending you're okay – that's not good. It doesn't help you. And it doesn't help the people around you."

Wander was becoming increasingly certain his diaphragm wasn't functioning properly. "There's nothin' important to say," Wander squeezed out of shriveled lungs. "Are y'sure you didn't wanna hear about Brad and Remora?"

"No. You're trying to avoid the subject. Again, I'm not telling you what to do. But you'll explode if you just keep it bottled up."

"I'm not gonna _explode,_ silly!"

"Sylvia's here for you," Ripov said, gentler now. "Maybe think about opening up to her. That's all I mean."

"Sure thing." Wander tried to nod convincingly. His torso felt like it was being squeezed through a tube and he wanted very much to tell Ripov that it wasn't that easy, but he choked down the words -

"Okay. I think I've done everything I can about your leg, so-"

" _I-can't-tell-her,_ " the words burst out, and Wander froze.

Ripov gazed up at him expectedly.

It was altogether too late to take the words back, and new ones were bubbling to the surface, so he rambled on, "Sh-she's already all worked up 'bout me bein' on Dom's ship and all, and if she knew what'd happened an' how I felt, she'd - well, she'd get so worried and I don't want her t'be _more_ worried."

"She needs to know. For both your sakes."

Wander shook his head fiercely. "N-no, I can't-"

Ripov hesitated, an idea sparking. "Then… can you tell me?"

In theory, yes. Ripov wasn't going to fuss and worry and hover like Sylvia. So really it seemed like a simple idea. But he was starting to shiver and he wasn't quite sure why, and that made it somewhat difficult to get words out.

"Wander? Wander, are you okay?"

He let out a drawn-out whine. "Iii'm right as rain." He wrapped his arms around himself, and added, "maybe jus' not really up to talkin' about – well, about Dom and all that…"

"All right." Ripov put her hands up. "Not gonna press it. I'm gonna wrap your leg with new bandages, and then you'll be ready to go on your way, all right?"

He nodded anxiously.

* * *

Wander returned to Sylvia, a meek expression on his face and a new clean bandage wrapped around his leg. He still leaned heavily on his walking stick, but Sylvia found comfort in him placing just a bit more weight on the hurt leg.

As promised, Wander then helped Sylvia try to create another their own version of a fruity drink with a tiny umbrella. They included fruits from the island, a few herbs, and water from the river. Two tiny umbrellas were salvaged from the shack.

When they settled down beside the river and sipped at the drink, they almost immediately spat it right out – it turned out to be a truly disgusting drink, a mix of flavors that should probably never have been mixed.

But Sylvia and Wander enjoyed laughing over the atrocity they had created, and for just a little bit of time, things felt _normal._

It didn't last. Wander's voice was too fake, and he flinched any time her hand got too close or if she moved too fast. The entire pretense of a pleasant recline by the river was – very obviously – only for Sylvia's benefit.

As the afternoon wore on, Sylvia's own mood got bleaker.

"Hey, Wander…?"

"Mhmm?"

Sylvia hesitated. She didn't want to bring it up, and remove any illusion of peace, however weak, but… Wander did need to know. "Buddy, I'm meeting with the other survivors tonight. We're going to discuss a way to defeat Dominator."

Wander's eyes shot wide. "What? NO!"

"We have to, Wander-"

"Syl, you can't go! She's gonna hurt you!"

"Wander, think about how close we got to defeating her last time…."

"Peepers _died_ last time," screeched Wander.

Sylvia winced. "We can't let that sacrifice be in vain – Wander, she's wounded, worse than anyone's ever seen her before! We have to take this opportunity-"

"T' _kill?_ "

"You knew it might come to that-"

"No, no, no," Wander grasped at his fur. "Syl, I won't let you!"

"I'll have an _army_ behind me-"

"Please-" his eyes were at their roundest and saddest – and gosh darnit, Sylvia's heart wasn't made of stone. She weakened, and helplessly raised her hands.

"I'm sorry, Wander…. This is where we stop her. We have to. Someone has to, and we're all that's left."

Wander shook his head fiercely from side to side. "I can't let you do that!"

She moved to touch his shoulder, and then wanted to kick herself when Wander flinched away. Gone was any sense of comfort or ease, however slight – now her friend was bunched up and tense. "Don't you remember us talking before?" she tried softly. "When we said we might have to defeat her?" The word _kill_ loomed, at once silent and blaringly loud.

Wander nodded weakly. "I-I just didn't think it'd be so soon."

"Now's the only time. When she's still recovering from our last attack."

He peered those big, kind eyes up at her. "Then let me come with you."

Dread ripped through her. "No, Wander-"

"But if you're goin-"

She'd thought the trauma would refrain him from ever boarding that infernal ship again. Clearly, some forces were stronger than even his deepest fears. "No matter what," she growled out, "you can't follow us, do you understand?"

He didn't answer.


	19. Chapter 19

"We're all here for the same reason. Lord Dominator came into this galaxy, and destroyed _our_ homes, and _our_ friends. But this is where it stops. This is where we all band together and stop _her_."

Dozens of doubtful faces gazed back at her.

Beeza lifted her hand. "Uhhh, yeah. If we couldn't defeat her before, why do we stand any chance now?"

"This time is different. This time she's not at her full strength – Hater, Commander Peepers, Wander, and I already fought her. We need to strike quickly, while she's weak – before she has time to rebuild."

There was a murmuring of approval.

" _Plus_ ," Sylvia added, "We've never tried to attack her all at once – with people from every planet. Don't you understand? This is our chance! We either bring her down now… or we run forever."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Frederick the space worm input, towering above everyone else. "We need to go quickly!" This was swiftly seconded by many, who for the first time, had looks of hope.

Sylvia's heart swelled with pride. These were the survivors, these were a people ready to take back their galaxy.

"All right, here's the plan: we'll take three ships out – Ripov's, Jeff's, and Starbella's. Everyone who wants to fight will be split between those three vessels, and we'll attack her from three different sections of her ship. That should split up her remaining forces, and make it easier to break through her defenses. I'll go after Dominator in a smaller group – maybe five or six."

"I want to be in that smaller group," Ripov volunteered, and Sylvia nodded.

"Anyone else? Know that it's going to be very dangerous-"

"Oooo, me!" Frederick waved a little stick hand.

"You got it," Sylvia said – having a giant destructive space worm with rows of massive teeth definitely couldn't hurt their cause.

Destructor also volunteered, followed by Princess Demurra and then King Draykor. Sylvia was about to announce it a done deal when a tiny magenta individual leapt to the front of the assembled crowd and waved his hand frantically. "I'll go too!" declared King Bingleborp.

Sylvia quirked a brow. "Uhhh, are you sure?"

"She's ruined my planet! Scattered my people! I want revenge - personally!"

"I _respect_ that but-"

"Revenge I say!" Bingleborp shook his tiny fist.

Sylvia smushed her lips together and looked side to side. Bravery and courage were great and all, but was it even morally appropriate to let King Bingleborp join them in their battle against Dominator?

"REVENGE!" Bingleborp shook with emotion.

"Okay, fine, front lines for you," Sylvia sighed, and counted on him getting too scared and fleeing before they ever faced Dominator. "Now that we've settled that, there's one more matter to take care of. We need at least one person to stay back with Wander."

The gathered people looked amongst themselves.

"At least one," Sylvia said. "Maybe two. Or a small group. Someone strong."

A man with a fast food tag on his shirt lifted his hand, until the 'someone strong' clause, and then he abashedly lowered it.

"You can still stay back if you don't want to fight," Sylvia pointed out to him. He immediately sighed in relief.

"But still, someone strong…?" Sylvia tried again – someone _had_ to stay back with Wander, both to protect him, and to guarantee he wouldn't follow them aboard exactly like (she was sure) he planned to.

Finally, another hand raised.

"You want to stay?" Sylvia said, a trifle surprised though maybe she shouldn't have been.

"I owe that little guy my life, man," Jeff replied, lowering his hand. "Anyway, I'm not really cut out for all this violence."

Given that he had immense physic powers and the ability to move huge objects with his mind, Sylvia had to disagree – Jeff would be the most powerful fighter on their team. But only, of course, _if_ he fought. And with his pacifism, he probably wouldn't.

"You know, that's a good idea," Sylvia realized. Despite his powers, he wasn't likely to be very helpful in battle. If it came to defending and protecting Wander, though, he'd be much more inclined to show force. More importantly, if Wander tried to leave, Jeff could probably mentally immobilize him until the battle was finished.

"Then you stay with Wander," Sylvia decided. "Everyone else gather what weapons you can. Starbella and Ripov, you can get your ships ready. Let's take her down."

As the residents prepared, Sylvia turned away, her heart uncertain. Was she really ready to back to the ship? Was she ready to _kill_ someone? It was Dominator, sure, and Sylvia had nothing but hatred for the villain. But the act of actually killing someone… that wasn't something she had ever done, not even in her own villainous days.

"Keep it together," she told herself firmly. This wasn't the time for last minute doubts.

Instead, while the others gathered together whatever makeshift weapons they could find, Sylvia tracked down Jeff. She found the ex-villain kneeling beside several ceramic bowls and a pile of colorful flowers.

"Oh heya Sylvia!" he waved good-naturedly.

Sylvia's brow furrowed. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm mashing up ringleberry flowers. They make the best paints, man. I thought Tumbleweed and I would paint while you're gone. Gotta keep his mind off this heavy stuff, yanno man?"

"That's not a bad idea," Sylvia admitted; if they were painting, maybe Wander wouldn't be as strung-out, and Jeff would always be right there to keep an eye on him.

"Before I turned all evil and stuff, I'd paint to get out the mess in my head, man. So I thought, hey, maybe the lil' orange guy could do with that too!"

"Yeah. Look, I have something to ask you."

"Sure thing Sylvia! What's bouncing around in your noggin?"

Sylvia rubbed her arm. "It's Wander. I know he's gonna try to follow us to Dominator's ship, and when he wants to do something – well, it's hard to stop him."

Jeff nodded, "man, I know how true that is."

"That's why you need to _make sure_ he doesn't follow us, do you understand?"

Jeff raised paint-splattered hands defensively. "Whoa man, don't you worry – I don't know what Dominator did to him, but that little guy has got to stay _far_ away from her."

Sylvia sagged in relief – she'd been worried that Jeff would be bent on saving Dominator, or thinking that Wander could save her. "Grop, am I glad you understand. We shouldn't be gone more than a day. You've _got_ to watch Wander, every second of that. I know he doesn't have any orbble juice but who knows what else he might try if it means trying to save us."

Jeff saluted. "I'll look after him. It's the least I can do. And you guys? Man, you focus on taking her out. We gotta make this galaxy a place of peace again."

* * *

They took off at dusk – Sylvia went with Beeza, piloting Jeff's ship (which he had happily volunteered for the cause). In the viewports, the Secret Planet got smaller and smaller, as the vastness of space swallowed them up. Starbella and Ripov flanked the tail of Jeff's ship.

Despite the massive number of people on board, there wasn't much talking. Tension ran like wildfire among them – they sat silently side by side, fiddling with the weapons that most had little experience with, and deep anxiety could be read on every face.

Sylvia didn't blame them. She certainly wasn't immune to the doubt and nervousness plaguing the others – again and again she wondered if this was the right choice, going after Dominator after so little planning. She tried to assure herself that it was – if they didn't attack now, it would only give Lord Dominator the opportunity to attack _them_.

But would Wander be okay? Sylvia repeatedly found herself looking through the windshields, in case a small wanderer came ambling up in an orbble bubble.

Her worried antics quickly got on Beeza's nerves; "If her ship is anywhere nearby, the radars will pick it up, and I'll let you know immediately," she said firmly.

" _Sorry_." Sylvia sidled away. But not five minutes later, she circled back to the control deck.

"I'll let you know as soon as I see anything," Beeza reminded her.

Then five minutes again, and ten minutes, and half an hour –

Finally, Beeza let out a soft, "oh!" and Sylvia tripped over herself in her haste to check the radars.

"What is it? Is it Wander?"

Beeza cast her a sideways glance. "No, it's Dominator's ship. We'll be ready to board in about twenty-five minutes… if her lasers don't get us first."

"Oh, right." Dread deepened in her heart as they neared the hulking black mass in space - as they approached, its spiky ominous shape became obviously identifiable as Dominator's ship. It did not, however, move at all. It sat still and silent, enormous and seemingly impenetrable. Was Dominator not going to attack?

Their own vessels steadily approached, closer, closer, closer, and still no hostile fire.

 _Maybe she's injured,_ Sylvia thought, _or maybe she doesn't even notice us yet._ A zing of exhilaration shot through her. The first stage of this plan was already going better than expected. She had anticipated dodging lasers.

"We'll take the left flank," Sylvia instructed. "Ripov and Starbella can take the right and back."

Beeza conveyed this over the intercom, and the three ships separated. The next few minutes were eerily quiet, as they drifted into place around Dominator's ship, like a swarm of bugs gathering to a host.

"Move in close," Sylvia whispered. Dominator's ship loomed larger and larger, like a giant black canvas engulfing them.

Goosebumps prickled along Sylvia's arms. Her heart thudded hard.

"The walls can be broken though," she reminded. "With a solid shot, we can get in…" Beeza reported the same over the intercom.

Finally, they stopped, their entire windshield obscured by solid plates of black rock.

Sylvia swallowed.

"Ready when you are," Beeza said.

"Wait." Sylvia turned to Beeza. "Will you stay back, once the fighting starts? Make sure that if Wander turns up, he can't follow us."

Beeza nodded once, firmly.

Here went nothing. "Then fire."

The wall blasted open from their lasers; lava splattered and sizzled on the hull of Jeff's ship. Before the damage could repair itself, they shot through the makeshift opening, and into the dim lava halls that Sylvia couldn't wait to see the last of.

Immediately the wings on Jeff's ship clipped the walls and Beeza guided the vessel to a skidding halt. With Sylvia in the lead, the rebels began swarming out.

Frederick the space worm let out a shrieking battle cry, and made the first blow by diving into the floor and shredding the ship's frame

Within seconds, the bots were upon them – they rolled and flew and ran towards the rebels, but for the first time, they didn't set fear in Sylvia's heart. She had a lot more to worry about than these bots.

Resolve thick, she leapt at the front of the line and met them fist for lava blast, while friends and fighters from across the entire galaxy rallied behind her.

Sylvia had already fought these bots tooth and nail two days ago, and she'd never been less scared. Hah, the bots facing them weren't even at their full power! As she put her fist through their hulls she couldn't help but notice that most were already damaged, with vicious tears in their hulls and lava oozing from shattered eyepieces.

Clearly Dominator hadn't had time (or maybe she lacked the resources) to build new bots. All this just served to prove that Lord Dominator _wasn't_ some undefeatable monster. She was _very_ mortal and she was about to get comeuppance for everything she had done.

A strangled cry burst from Sylvia's left, and Neckbeard went down – furiously, Sylvia plunged her fist through the bot that had done it. Not a second later, Frederick burst up through the floor and swallowed another bot whole.

It was chaos. Metal shrapnel and bot parts flew. Frederick was arguably doing the most damage, considering that he could shred through the walls and floor like paper, and he could swallow up a seemingly endless number of bots. But everybody fought, and everybody impacted the fight: from the corner of her eye, Sylvia glimpsed Ripov leap onto a bot and break through its eyepiece to tear out the wires within it. The Mole People swarmed another bot, and overwhelmed it with sheer numbers, while Trudi and her clones mowed down a flock of scout-bots.

"We've got you covered, Wander," Sylvia said under her breath, triumph thrumming in her blood.

Invigorated, they broke through a line of Dombots and nearly crashed right into another third of their total party, lead by Ripov.

"We saw the other group," Ripov reported, "they were struggling against some big bots. Half our group split to help them."

Sylvia nodded in understanding. "We've still got big enough numbers to take her on."

Ripov shot her a rebellious grin. "Well? You ready to bring her down a notch?"

"Am I ever!" As they closed the distance to the control deck, Sylvia's dread and anticipation both mounted. _This_ was the real challenge.

"Here we go," she muttered. A half glance to her side met her with Ripov's determined glare.

"Let's do this."

"Three…. Two…. ONE!" Sylvia threw herself bodily at the wall and burst through in a spray of gelatinous lava. Immediately she had her fists at the ready, her entire body prepared for battle – what was likely to be the biggest battle of her life.

She was met with silence.

The soft humming of the battleship. Then the footsteps of others gathering behind her.

Sylvia stepped into the room, heart thudding in her ribs, eyes raking every corner.

The room seemed to be… empty. Empty and cavernous. Something sat funny in her stomach.

"Where is she?" Ripov whispered.

"Is she hiding?" Destructor asked.

It wasn't like Dominator to hide. But if she wanted to fight, she would have either been here, or on the front lines with the bots. So… Where…?

Sylvia tread deeper into the room. Stairs to her left led up to the controls and the windshield, and Sylvia tentatively followed these up. This is where they had first met Dominator, roughly a year ago, when Wander had been so bent on giving her a fruit basket and becoming her friend…

Sylvia shook her head. No Dombots here, and no Dominator. She was about to turn away when a video feed on the screens flickered to life, rising up ten feet above Sylvia's head.

A giant, projected version of Lord Dominator loomed, her intimidating demeanor hardly diminished by the numerous bruises and cuts that littered her skin.

"Hi losers," said the video feed. She fluttered her fingers and grinned sardonically. "If you're hearing this, it means you stepped into my control deck and triggered this message. So _welcome –_ really, I just love when stupid little lightning freaks and Zbornaks break onto my ship to try to destroy ME."

It took too long for Sylvia to notice the quiet _beep…. beep… beep_ that had began the moment the video feed began.

"So," the recording of Dominator said, inspecting her nails. "Seems like you guys aren't _entirely_ worthless. But unfortunately for you, I'm not home right now."

It took Sylvia even longer to process what the beeping might be.

"See, I had a little bot follow you, and it turns out you nerds have been hiding away from me all this time! I thought you were hiding on a ship, or some lame comet, but _noo,_ you found yourselves an entire-"

 _Beep…. Beep…._

"Bomb!" Sylvia yelled the moment she realized; Frederick, Ripov, and the others looked at her in puzzlement, "it's a bomb, the ship – the ship is – GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!"

Ripov moved instantly; others stared as if unable to comprehend.

There wasn't time to deliberate. Sylvia grabbed those nearest to her, slung them onto her back, and shot out of the ship, screaming the entire way to evacuate. She leapt into space and shoved her passengers off none too gently – but this wasn't the time for gentleness.

Immediately she wheeled around – _Wander would do it_ – and moved to save more people. Before she could, she went blind.

The stars, the ship, space – all of it drowned in a canvas of white. She couldn't hear anything but a faint, distant whine. She couldn't feel anything. There was nothing, no up, no down, just infinite white blankness.

Sound returned with a ripping roar; sight with flaring reds and oranges and blacks.

When her mind orientated itself, she was staring upside down at the massive burning shell that was once Lord Dominator's ship. Huge pieces of rock and metal floated meaninglessly, like planets frozen in orbit around a fiery sun.

At first, she didn't feel anything. She only stared, disbelieving what had just happened.

Then anguish. Quickly counting the survivors, floating shocked bodies with thousand-mile stares.

 _See I had a little bot follow you_

Rushing from person to person, trying to find soothing words and instructions when she herself felt more lost than ever. _How many dead?_ Counting the survivors again, hoping the number would be higher.

 _I had a little bot follow you_

Then risking a dive into the fractured, ruined ship, and crawling through ruptured halls and chambers to dig out anyone still alive.

 _had a little bot follow you, and it turns out you nerds have been hiding away from me all this time_

It wasn't until she had exhausted every last wrecked corner of the ship, and dragged out every last breathing body, that she fully grasped the implications.

She whispered in horror, " _Wander_."


	20. Chapter 20

"Huh. Boring."

Three glistening red-spattered icicles jutted four inches out of Jeff's chest.

"Gotta say, I expected more from someone that goes by the name of _Major Threat._ "

A wet gurgle bubbled from Jeff's throat.

"Guess that just goes to show, doesn't it? Even the best in this galaxy are nothing more than weak saps." The icicles were yanked out of his chest, and his body collapsed with a sickening noise.

"Ngh." Wander's back slicked to the wall. "I, nn – _J-Jeff-"_

She stepped over his corpse, hips swaying. "Jeff? Who the Grop are you talking about?"

She didn't know. She didn't even know. "Th-thuh h-he- wuh-wasn't ah-" Whatever he was trying to explain quickly fled as she approached. "D-Dom, nnno, please-" His feet stumbled over each other to back away.

"Oh, I get it. _You_ made him a dopey useless _good guy_ , didn't you? And he got a lame name to go with it!"

"Dom, please-"

"You know, that's so ironic. Because if he had stayed a villain, then he probably wouldn't be dead now."

"Please, s-stop-"

"For someone who tries to be good, you sure do hurt a lot of people around you." Her arm rose towards him, clawed fingers elongating with lava.

"Don't!" a shriek ripped from his throat; he bolted for the shack exit.

He didn't make it even three strides before ropes of lava snaked around both legs and sent him crashing to the floor. The heat against his flesh triggered electric panic to jump along his skin, and he convulsed while the lava wound up his hips, across his chest and arms, and around his throat.

"You're so much more afraid than I remember you," she said, her voice closer now, and his lips parted in a silent cry.

He couldn't move, couldn't fight –

"Aw," she made a soft noise that, coming from any other person, would be sympathetic or pitying. "I missed seeing you like this."

"Puh-please lemme go, Domi, please, l-lemme go-"

The lava lifted him from the floor and then he was face to face with Lord Dominator's blood-red eyes. They were close, too close, and his gaze flicked frantically to the wicked curve of her lips.

"What a rush, am I right?" she was saying. "Gotta love destroying planets, but there's this special feeling for getting up close and personal as you tear away everything that a person cares about."

He let out a long, pained keen, and she laughed. "Like this dumb little planet you guys have been hiding out on. Oh man, I can't wait to destroy it."

" _N-no_!" From the corner of his eyes, he could still see Jeff's body.

"I mean, wow, I knew you guys were hiding somewhere, but I thought it was on a ship, or in another galaxy – not on an entire planet – hah! If I had known…." Wistful longing twined into her voice, "forcing you to _watch_ as I picked off your friends, one by one…."

"Nnoo, Dom-" The terror was so thick, like static screeching in his head.

"And then just _k_ - _pkchhh!_ destroy the entire planet! Man, can you imagine!"

Tears freely spilled from his eyes, and he couldn't help the wet whimpering hiccups that he was sure were disgusting and ugly to Dominator.

"But you," she said, suddenly softer, "I won't kill you."

A gentle touch to his cheek had him flinching away. She seized his fur and forced him to look at her. "I had some time to think about things while you were gallivanting around on this planet. And at first I was all like, _rawr, confliction, emotion,_ because it was _weird_ to think about _liking_ someone. But you know, I've run around four galaxies by myself, and maybe it _is_ starting to get a little old. I thought, maybe that's why I was sticking around this one for so long. The thing I'm missing-" she jabbed his chest "is a little twerp like you, to cry over every pathetic planet I destroy."

"I-I don't wanna- please don't, I wanna be safe I wan' Jeff t'be'ok, and Syl t'look after me an' th'galaxy t'be the way it was, _please-don't-make-me_ -"

"I can't even understand half of what you're saying through your blubbering." Dominator rolled her eyes. "Whatever, we should get this show on the road. But there's one thing I need to do before we go."

He dreaded to think what she wanted.

"You see this?"

She waved her arm purposefully in front of his eyes. Her glove was shredded, the forearm beneath it savagely torn and marred by a series of thin red welts. It wasn't the only injury she bore, not by far, but Wander immediately knew the significance: it was the only injury _he_ had inflicted.

It occurred to him that he wasn't sorry. That if his arms weren't bound up now, if he weren't so scared, he'd wish that he could do worse.

"See, it's funny – I never knew you had claws."

A soft whimper.

"How about you show them to me?" Determination flared in her blood-red eyes. The lava wrapped around him readjusted so that his arms were free, but his body was still clutched tight.

"D-Dom-"

"Show. Me."

He wanted to be anywhere but here. Wanted to be anybody but himself.

Dominator's expression contorted. "You little rat! Show me your stupid claws, or I'll – I'll gouge out your eyes!"

"'msorryI'msorry'msorry-" He thrust out one shaking hand, and let his claws slip out – they were small ivory crooks just at the tips of each finger. He flinched hard when Dominator took his hand in hers.

"Whoa, neat. Look at that." Every touch had Wander convinced she was going to snap a bone.

"D-don't," he brokenly uttered.

"Hold still."

"Hold st-?"

Each finger of hers bloomed into a separate lava string that encased each claw on his hand.

Wander went very, very still. "N-no-"

Her other hand curled around his tiny wrist for leverage. "This might hurt."

"DOMINATOR NO-"

She wrenched; the roots of his claws cracked then tore, and she ended with a fistful of bloody claws – all but one, which had twisted in the root without being fully removed, and now it pointed 40 degrees to the right. Wander's jaw shot open – a hand slapped over his mouth and he screamed into Lord Dominator's palm.

"Oh, whoops, messed that one up a bit, didn't I?"

She grabbed the dangling claw and everything whited out for half a second. A vicious tug ripped it from its root, and he gasped, eyes rolling up.

"What a stupid, dopey expression, hah!"

"Nnngh." Her red eyes blazed in his vision.

"Now come on, be a good little pet. I've still got one hand to go, and we need to get outta here. Show me your other claws."

He could feel blood wetting the tips of his fingers, and he could feel pain starting at his wrist and coiling up his arm but he couldn't feel his hand, not at all. That seemed so bizarre and so impossible because she hadn't done anything to his wrist or arm, that Wander let out a breathy sound close to a laugh.

"Hello? Are you listening? You got five more of these I need to remove, Wander."

His mouth released a series of gurgling noises that, under any other circumstances, he would have been humiliated to hear. She was looking angrier and angrier, and he began to hyperventilate.

"Don't make me impatient…"

She was going to kill him. He'd never been so convinced of anything in his life.

"I'm gonna give you three seconds to show me those claws, Wander. Three…."

Maybe he'd see Jeff in the afterlife.

"Two…."

Finally he wouldn't be hurt anymore.

"One."

He prayed that Sylvia would move on to live a happy life without him.

The lava dropped him, and he hit the floor hard enough to knock all the air from his lungs. The few seconds he spent heaving for breath were all Dominator needed to settle heavily over him. "Fine, we'll do it your way."

He felt her splay out his fingers against the floor; dizzily he gazed at the huge knife fashioned from lava rock as she reared it above her head.

Suddenly, he wasn't okay with death – he was very very much not okay with it, and he needed to get out _now_ \- the knife slammed down.

His ears rang. Everything sucked out of existence, went dark and warm and there was blissful nothingness.

Reality popped back in with someone screaming.

"Oops," Dominator said.

It occurred to him that he was the one screaming.

"Chopped a liiiittle more off than I intended."

His throat went dry and the scream turned to a hoarse rattle.

"Grop, that looks gross. You're bleeding everywhere, hold on-"

He rolled onto his side, vision swimming. Drool dribbled from his parted, panting lips. He had to get out. Had to get away. His palm came down on the floor, and stubby fingers seared with a pain that shot up his arm and coiled in his shoulder.

"Hold still-"

He yelped out when she took his hand. She was wrapping something around it – panic choked him. _Lava! she's going to burn my hands, she's –_

"Grop, would you stop squirming!" A sharp slap across his cheek; he cried out.

Her hands descended again, and he wildly tried to push her off.

"Ugh, you're getting blood everywhere, stop it-"

She reached again; this time Wander caught sight of the white cloth in her hand and confusion dismayed him. What did she plan to do - was she going to strangle him with it? She wrestled down his hand and –

Oh.

He saw his fingers, three-fourths the length they were supposed to be, and the sight transfixed him long enough for Dominator to hastily wind the bandages around them.

She switched to attend to his other hand; he laid limply, heart thudding in his chest. She'd… she'd cut off the tips of his fingers. Instinctively, he reached to pull off the bandages – Dominator growled and stopped him, forcing a bandage around his other, less mutilated hand.

"There," she snapped, "now will you stop whining?"

His cheeks felt cold, and when he touched them, it wetted the tip of a bandage and sent fresh spikes of pain down his arm. Crying. Of course. He'd forgotten he was doing that.

Dominator's face scrunched up in a confused expression – she looked extra tall, straddling him like this.

Wander's eyes slid like molasses to the side. Jeff. He was right by Jeff. Wander twisted around to throw up, and Dominator scrambled off him.

"Eeww, why do you always do that?"

His mouth tasted horrible. His fingers were beyond pain. This was all too much, way too much. Without any conscious decision, his spine buckled and he curled on the floor to cry.

When Dominator scooped him up, he didn't protest. He wasn't sure he was even capable of protesting. When she cradled him to her chest, and stepped from the shack, he didn't fight back.

His arms loosely wound around her neck, and he cried into her shoulder. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine the hand resting at his back was Sylvia's.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNINGS EVERYWHERE. I sat on this chapter for several days before posting it here because I wasn't sure if it appropriately fell under the mature rating. I posted it in its entirety for two reasons: 1) there's a crapload of stories on here that don't follow the ratings and 2) you should know what you're getting into by chapter 21.**

That said, if you feel that this is inappropriate for ffn, let me know, and I can... try... to censor it without just deleting the entire chapter.

trigger warning for rape, nonconsensual kissing, a bad attempt at a handjob, and sexual sadism. And Dominator. Just. Dominator deserves to be a trigger warning.

Chapter 21

Wander slid hazily in and out consciousness, never quite sure when he was fully awake or fully asleep. The moon above bathed the forest in muted glow, and shadows shifted and moved just out of sight. Sometimes he was being carried by Dominator and sometimes by Sylvia.

"It's great to have ya back, partner," Sylvia told him once, and Wander had been so grateful that he'd squeezed Sylvia in the tightest, friendliest hug, letting her know just how much he had missed her and how desperately he needed her company.

It was Dominator that complained and wrestled his arms away from her neck.

Another time, Sylvia gathered Wander to her chest, and said "we did it!" relief bright in her eyes, "we saved the galaxy, Wander!"

"We sure did," Wander mumbled.

Dominator growled, _"did what?"_ and then Wander had to remember that they hadn't done anything, least of all save the galaxy.

He wasn't coherent enough to notice the passage of time, and neither did he notice that Lord Dominator began staggering rather than walking. He did notice – and was promptly jolted back to reality – when she finally threw him down against the trunk of a huge tree, and slumped next to him, closing her eyes.

The sky was a dark expanse overhead. Wander had no idea where he was, and no idea where Sylvia was. He just knew he was alone with Dominator, just as he had been many times aboard her ship. And that meant nothing good.

He wondered the odds of being able to sneak away, but the very thought paralyzed him. Right now she wasn't hurting him. If he tried to escape, he had no doubt that she would.

"This is so lame," Lord Dominator groaned, throwing a hand over her face, and Wander flinched from the sound of her voice.

His eyes flitted, just to watch out in case she decided to reach for him – and finally, he noticed what he had not before: violent purplish bruising scrawled up her entire left side, across her belly, and up her ribs, disappearing beneath her shirt. The source of injuries was clear – the three round black-red holes gouged into her side from Commander Peeper's blaster.

Of course. Even someone like Dominator couldn't recover from injuries that bad in such a short period of time. Contrarily, this only made Wander more afraid. After all, wounded animals were much more likely to lash out.

"Like, I gotta rebuild my entire ship, and now we're stuck on this stupid rock with stupid plants, and stupid – ugh!"

She didn't have her ship anymore?

"I hope the explosion at least killed off some of your friends."

Oh. It clicked, and shudders started afresh. He hadn't done anything. He'd let them go to Dominator's ship. He knew how dangerous she was – he knew that much better than anyone else, and he'd let them go anyway…

"S-Sylvia," Wander choked out.

"Grop, don't start now. I don't want to hear your whining. You were sniffing for hours already."

Wander bit his lip. Sylvia had to still be alive... he would have felt it if she weren't, right? He would know? Oh no… but if she was still alive, she'd try to follow them…. Wander willed with all his might that Sylvia would just leave the galaxy. Find a different friend. Be happy and most of all – _be very far away_.

As for the others, though…. Guilt weighed heavily on him.

"And after all this there's still only one lousy planet to destroy…" Dominator muttered. "Whatever. I guess we can move on to the next galaxy and then everything will be fine again."

Another galaxy. She wanted to do this all over again. But what could he do to stop her….

"Hey, are you paying any attention? Don't you want to change me for the better? Aren't you going to go on some lame spiel about how I'm just misunderstood and need the power of love and friendship?" she said the last bit with an exaggerated twang.

He wished he would. He wished he still believed she could be good. He had to believe it for her, because she wouldn't. "Y-Y'killed a lot of people," Wander tried. Jeff was at the forefront of his mind, but there were others, he knew. Many others.

"Oh what, and – and that stupid Hater never did? Actually, scratch that, he would be the kind of dope to never even kill a single person. Probably cries over dead insects." She snorted. "Anyway, the point is, I thought you were all about that whole forgive and forget thing."

"Gee," Wander said softly, avoiding her intent gaze. He was supposed to be.

"Don't tell me I broke you."

Wander struggled to remember how he kept faith through even the toughest villains. Trouble was, he hadn't really struggled before. Being good meant embracing all the positive parts of life, the good healthful aspects of life that benefited both yourself and others. He'd always just known it was the best way to live, and likewise, his desire to show that to villains had never wavered. So why was Dominator different?

She was lonely, he knew that – lonely like many of the other villains he'd encountered. But… He met her gaze, and quavered beneath its emptiness. He wasn't sure there was anything at all inside her.

"I do want you t'be good," Wander finally said. "Everyone's happier when they're good. When they start helpin' other folks, they start helpin' themselves."

"That sounds more like your usual dorky self. C'mere."

Wander didn't want to get any closer. In fact, he really really would feel more comfortable with more distance between them. "A-are y'gonna kill me?"

"What? No. Why would I bother kidnapping you if I'm just going to kill you?"

He had to admit that didn't make much sense but also he was equally certain that Dominator would only want him closer to inflict pain.

"I said come here," she repeated, a hard edge in her voice.

"Wh-why?" he dared to ask.

"Take a guess. What we were last doing before we were interrupted by your friends – which, by the way, was _rude_."

Oh. Wander scrunched himself in a tinier ball. "I-I don't really wanna do that, Domi…."

"Wow, that's funny," she said, "I don't remember asking you what _you_ wanted." He may as well have said nothing at all. She grabbed him and deposited him onto her lap. Wander self-consciously tucked his wrist close to his chest. She wanted to kiss him. He could tell, with the way her eyes flicked down.

Something in him rallied, unearthing a tiny speck of willpower, "Dominator, this ain't right! Y'don't force people do this kinda stuff!"

"Oh wow, really? I never knew. I'm _so_ lucky to have you around to tell me these things."

Desperation crawled in. "D-don't you want someone t'love you? T'kiss you 'cause they care about you, and they want th'best for you?"

"Hmmm, let see…. No. Sounds like a lot of work." She leaned in – Wander yipped and held her shoulders back.

"B-But it's a real special feelin', Domi. It's like butterflies filling up all your guttyworks, an' you're light as air, and like nothin' can ever go wrong."

"Oh, ouch, you're _reeeeally_ not selling it. The only 'Special Feeling' I need is that nice rush when I destroy a planet and all its stupid inhabitants. Oh, and that weird feeling I get from kissing you. Butterflies, is that what you said?"

"N-no-" She pressed their lips together, and Wander froze in place. Her mouth was hot against his, but slow, inquisitive. Did she expect him to respond? Did she want him to pretend to like it? No… the answer was clear. It didn't matter to her if he liked it or not. She probably preferred if he didn't.

Wander squeezed his eyes shut, while her fingers wound through his fur, up his back, up his neck, cupping his head. Exploring. Learning.

Should he try to fight? Try to run? Ultimately, he did neither. He held stock still, and let her examine him. He felt weird, a distinctly _bad_ weird, much like the skin and fur he wore weren't actually his own – like no part of his body, not even his bones, were his. How could they be, when she could so easily do whatever she liked to him? When he had no say? When she made him feel so detached and uncomfortable?

A tongue touched his lips: Wander clenched his mouth shut firmly. Maybe this one thing, he could prevent. Protect. Keep as his own.

"Open your mouth," she ordered.

He shook his head. If he could have at least one bit of resistance…

She robbed his choice by peeling back his lips and slithering her tongue through the gap from his missing teeth. Wander shuddered as she licked at his tongue, explored the roof of his mouth and the inside of his teeth.

Something else then, he thought. There must be something else to cling to. Something else he could call his own, something he could protect; he couldn't be entirely helpless….

But tears pricked at his eyes, and despair lapped at his consciousness.

Wander screwed his eyes shut and desperately imagined that he was a million miles away. That they had defeated Dominator, and that the galaxy was recovering, growing, flourishing (Dominator's hand trailed up and down his back) that he was sitting with Sylvia on some beautiful beach, chatting about nothing at all, and planning their next adventure (she bit his lip) and maybe even Hater would be there, and Commander Peepers, because maybe everyone was alive and well, and none of the bad stuff in these past few weeks had happened (she paused).

Trembling, Wander opened his eyes.

She licked blood from her lips; her eyes were dark and curious. But also hesitant. It occurred to Wander that she wasn't sure exactly what was supposed to come next.

Wander tried twice to speak, and both times failed. On the third try, he uttered in a hoarse whisper, "G-guess w-we ought'a sleep now, r-right? G-gosh, I'm awful tired-"

Her hand cupped between his legs.

"Euuugh!" Wander shot backward and fell ungracefully off Dominator's lap.

"Ow!" She half curled, clutching her wounded side, "you kicked me, you little twerp!"

"I-I didn't mean t'please'msorry-"

" _Grop._ " She gritted her teeth and stayed curled up. "Your stupid friends and their guns, ugh – I hope your little pipsqueak commander died."

That stung like a shot through his own chest. Slowly, he sat up from the dirt. Even curled up and in pain, Dominator seemed so… so monstrous. So horrifying. So capable of terrible things.

"Way to ruin the mood," she growled at him.

Wander had a second to wonder if this meant he was in the clear, if this meant he could sleep tonight without anything worse befalling him. That second didn't last long enough.

A hand slammed into him and pinned him to the ground; coils of lava snatched his wrists and ankles and forced him into an open, spread-eagled position.

Nursing her left side, Dominator knelt beside him.

"So how does this work?" she asked, but she didn't seem to be directing the question to him.

"H-how does what work?" he tried.

A hand shoved roughly between his legs, and he let out a mortified yowl. His thighs instinctively tried to close, to block out the intrusion, but his bindings held tight enough to dig into his ankles.

"J-jus' let me go," it was hard to talk through what probably qualified as hyperventilating, "jus' let me go, Dom, please, I don't wanna do this, I don't – ghk-"

"How do you normally get it to work? Is it just, you rub and then magic?"

"Please," he whimpered, tears streaking down the sides of his face.

"It's pretty small, isn't it?" Her motions were experimental – ill-practiced and much too rough, and it _hurt._ His thighs twitched as if to close, and yet again the restraints stopped him.

She wasn't even looking at him. She was looking between his legs, studying him like an object.

Wander's cheeks scrawled with red, and he hid as much of his face as he could against the ground. "S-stop Domi…" he flinched away from her hand and she got impatient – "a-ah, th-that hurts, stop – stop, STOP!"

He gasped in relief when she paused. "It hurts?"

He nodded weakly.

She hesitated, expression thoughtful. "Then _you_ do it."

"H-huh?"

One lava cuff melted away from his wrist, leaving his right arm free.

"You do it. Get yourself ready, however you normally do."

Nothing about this was normal. Nothing about this could possibly be normal, could possibly feel okay.

"You do it, or I'll keep doing what I'm doing until I figure it out," she growled.

Dominator would get what she wanted one way or another, wouldn't she? There wasn't any fighting her. There wasn't any stopping her. He had never felt so hopeless in his entire life. But if he did what she asked now… maybe he could speed up the whole process. Get it over with sooner.

Oh grop, he really wished she wasn't watching.

He shifted his hand between his legs – it was his right arm she had freed, which was good for the fact he had the most mobility with that hand – it's the one she had ripped the claws out of, rather than chopping the tips of his fingers off.

Unfortunately, it was still wrapped in bandages, and most of his hand was swollen anyway. But if he didn't listen, she'd do worse. The motions themselves were familiar – something he had always felt comfortable doing, with those that were just as happy and willing to do it with him. Now it felt humiliating and degrading, working himself beneath her cynical gaze like some machine performing a function. Worse, the movement sent fresh pain shooting through his hand whenever the bandages brushed skin.

She watched with a bored detachment. "What's taking so long?"

"I'm j-just scared," Wander let out hysterical noise that might have been something close to a laugh. He could hardly believe this was actually happening.

"Well, stop being so scared."

He tried, really tried, but he couldn't ever get turned on a situation like this... "This ain't like how I normally go about it," he uttered, half a statement, half a plea.

"How do you do it normally?"

"Well, normally I got another friend t'help me out, and –"

"I tried to help you, but you're too sensitive."

"Normally it's all caring-like, y'know, like th'care about me, an' I care about them."

"Oh." It was clear the idea both annoyed and confused her. "Yeah. Like, boring coupley stuff. The whole _oh, I love you so much, want to be with you forever~_ blah blah blah."

"Well, it ain't exactly like that, because it ain't jus' about the words – when you really like bein'-"

"Okay, less talking more moving," Dominator waved her hand impatiently. "I didn't tell you to stop."

Wander flinched. "I can't do it like this." He'd always been open about liking people, and about what felt good for his body. But he didn't like this at all, and none of it felt good. "Domi, I'm still scared-"

"Well close your eyes. Get less scared. Think about something else."

He bit his lip and closed his eyes. It was difficult to ease his mind away from the pain of reality and slip into the realm of fantasy. He waded past more recent memories and sought older ones, very old – memories of past relationships, some short and light-hearted, some long and fruitful, all healthy and bucolic fun.

Wander sighed softly. He could even imagine that the lava binding him was soft cloth, tying him up to spice things up a bit. He'd certainly had some wild partners who loved to be so naughty. Their antics added a special spark to things, an extra shock of saucy fun. Wander's toes twitched, a smile teased at his lips. Gosh, he could remember one such instance, dozens of years ago….

They'd knotted him up all fancy-like with ribbon and he'd felt so risqué. And they'd taken him so passionately, and so hotly, with just the best mix of feral and kind energy -

A noise, somewhere between revulsion and curiosity, interrupted his reverie.

"Look, you're not totally broken!" she crowed, and his illusion was thoroughly shattered.

He wanted to die. He didn't want to be here anymore.

"Ew, it's so _pink_." She touched him there again. He let out an ugly, choked sob. Somewhere else. Anywhere else. _Please._

He heard fabric sliding over skin. Felt her weight settle over his hips. When he dared to look, she was still wearing her skirt and shirt, but concealed beneath the black fabric, his privates pressed at something warm and wet.

Panic set in again, his stomach churned, his restraints snagged as he thrashed.

"How do you-"

"S-s-stop," he pleaded.

"Is it in?"

"Ngh." He considered lying and saying yes. The option to do so fled as she reached a hand between her legs and checked.

"Grop." She held him firmly in place.

"Nononono-" She sank down, fully sheathing him. Her insides were too hot, painfully hot.

"S-stop, it – it hurts-" His one free hand pushed uselessly at her thigh.

" _Weird,_ " Dominator said. "I can barely feel you. Jeez, how dumb is that?"

Wander could feel her. He couldn't move, he couldn't get her off, and his most sensitive and vulnerable area was trapped inside her. He couldn't close himself off, couldn't push her away – the helplessness could have drowned him.

Her hands settled on either side of his head, her eyes were a terrifying blood red. He felt very much like prey trapped by a predator.

"That's really underwhelming," she said. Expression thoughtful, she rolled her hips in a slow, circular motion. "Is it - is it supposed to _do_ more?" She rocked herself on his lap, but her mouth was turning into a puzzled frown.

"Hnk." Despite the heat, the sensations sent little unwelcome sparks of pleasure-pain up his spine. But it was nothing like any of his past experiences. The entire thing was riddled with and ruined by horror, and even the pleasure felt too sharp, too wrong.

The unsatisfied twist to her lips deepened, and Wander's horror only grew. If she wasn't pleased, if he didn't do good enough….

"What the Grop," she muttered. Her hand scooped his lower back and she used this leverage to thrust him against her: he was helpless to stop it and had no choice to be used as a toy. Tears freely fell from the corners of his eyes, choked cries forced from his lips with every thrust.

This treatment continued for perhaps a minute more before she let out a mix between a growl and a sigh, and let his body slump back to the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded.

"Wh-whu?"

"Is it because you're so small or…." She struggled to conjure reasons why Wander might be insufficient, and he wished more than anything in the world that he could sink into the ground and vanish from existence.

"I-I'm sorry," he choked past tears.

"Grop, you're too stupid to do even this right…"

"'msorry, Domi, 'msorry, please, please stop, d-don't hurt me-"

"Aww," she cooed. "I wasn't going to, but thanks for the idea." She back-handed his face so hard that his cheek struck the dirt. Air snagged hard in his lungs; blood bubbled from his mouth.

Her hips jolted. O-oh. She understood the same time he did, and laughed. "Ohh, I should have started with this! Hurting you is like, my third favorite thing to do. I can't believe I didn't toss that in before. Guess I just had this impression about doing it the same way everyone else does but - really, yawn, who needs that?"

Desperation clenched in his chest. He prayed she would kill him.

The second strike was harder. His skull bounced stupidly off the ground, and the world spun. This time she let out a soft, affectionate noise.

"Maybe you aren't too awful at this after all."

Wander quavered beneath the heady, excited tone in her voice. He wished she had never stumbled across the idea to kiss him. He wished she had never grown interested in him. He wished she had never come to this galaxy.

She forced fingers past his lips. He gagged, and at first, he thinks that's the worst of it - that's what she wanted to get out of it, him choking. He was, dreadfully, wrong. Her fingers hunted around until they found the holes where his teeth had once been. Whitehot licks of pain scrawled up his jaw, and his heart thudded like a rabbit's.

"Uuhg-" he met her eyes, pleaded, _don't do it, don't -_

Her sharp claws mercilessly scoured through the holes. The agony ripped a scream from his lips, and it drowned out her ecstatic gasp. Blood bubbled back to his throat; he tasted copper and sulfur.

Breathlessly, she burrowed one claw into an oozing red toothless root, this time with a zealous, needy impatience. Deliriously, Wander imagined that nothing else existed but this moment – everything hurt, everything hurt and would always hurt, the pain wouldn't ever end, there wasn't anything outside of this, she would just always be here, always –

She yanked, and her nail ripped the barrier between two teeth holes.

Wander didn't remember feeling it.

The entire world blinked out, and when he next became aware of himself, some seconds must have passed, because she was kissing him again, licking his throbbing gums. One of her hands was shamelessly buried in her skirt, while the other was wrapped around Wander's throat. He couldn't actually breathe. Dizzily, he stared at the freckles lightly dusted across her cheeks. He should fight back, force her off, but his brain felt full of hot fluff, his limbs didn't cooperate, wouldn't move.

Time skipped again.

He blinked. The night sky was frightening. All black, with no stars, and only one small moon. A breeze sighed through the tree branches, and he watched the leaves flutter. Pain radiated from his mouth so thickly that his entire skull throbbed, but no more tears would come to his eyes. His privates felt cold and slick. It was over. She...

His head turned to the side, and there she was, half curled around him. Her eyes were closed, but not sleeping - no, she must have just finished. Her chest still heaved from the excitement and exertion.

Her vermillion eyes half opened, and she smiled.

"Hey, dork," breathlessly, full of affection. "Kinda had to finish the job myself. You got all wilty there at the end. But hey, that was actually a lot of fun."

She was laying on her good side. Wander's eyes trailed over the ugly bruising and the blaster wounds she bore. He imagined digging his fingers into those wounds, tearing at them, making _her_ scream.

"Anybody home?" she waved a hand in front of his face.

Wander thought about breaking each and every one of her perfectly good fingers.

She laughed, flopped onto her back with her skirt in a disarray. "Well, we should do that again sometime."


	22. Chapter 22

Again. She wanted to do that _again._ Not now, no, but… she would want it eventually. And he wouldn't have any power to stop her.

Wander rolled over onto his side and squeezed his thighs together. The taste of blood stuck like tacky to his tongue and mouth. Wetness clung to his privates, getting cold in the night air. He hated it. He felt dirty, used, vulnerable. But most of all, he felt _exhausted_. Like even the act of breathing was too much work.

"Hey," she suddenly said, and shifted behind him. "I was kinda selfish, you know?"

It sounded too good to be true, and sure enough, after a long yawn, Dominator continued, "I was just so focused on making myself feel good, and I totally neglected _you._ How about I fix that?" Fingers crept up his hip, reaching -

"NO!" Wander kicked out wildly and half dove half fell a good foot away.

Dominator burst out laughing. "Oh my Grop, relax. Wound up much?"

Wander whimpered and watched her with terror, certain she would at any moment grab him and drag him back. Instead, she yawned wide and nestled her head comfortably on her arms."Relax nerd, I was mostly kidding. Just funny to watch you jump."

Several tense seconds passed, and her breathing slowed. Was she going to sleep? Wander's eyes darted to the dark woods around them. If she fell asleep… if she was unaware….

One persimmon eye opened a sliver. "Don't even think about running away. I found you, even on this planet. If you run, I'll find you again, and I won't be happy."

Wander lowered his head, curling his arms and legs closer to his body. "Y-Yes Dom."

* * *

He didn't realize he had fallen asleep. In fact, he hadn't had any intention of falling asleep. Nonetheless, his mind groggily dragged itself from sleep some time later. _You don't want to be awake_ , his brain said. His body agreed. He felt exhausted to his very bones, like every inch of his body weighed a hundred pounds. Even his eyelids refused to open.

Then he heard a long yawn.

Lord Dominator. _Her_.

She was moving, shifting behind him, maybe sitting up. He dared to open one eye a mere slit, though he didn't glimpse her – she was behind him. The sky was still dark, the soil smelled richly of blood. They couldn't have slept for more than a few hours.

"Hey," she said softly; he didn't reply. As if pretending to be asleep would help his case any.

"Hey, nerd." There was exhaustion in her voice, yes, but also… she was happy. After what she had done last night, she was _happy_. Wander felt sick to his stomach.

"Come on," she drawled, "I know you're awake. You're as tense as a board."

"Go away," he tried weakly.

She cooed. Shifted closer. His breath started coming short. Then he felt it – the subtlest little shift of the hair follicles at the back of his neck, the tiniest indication that Dominator was reaching to touch him.

"DON'T!" Energy shot into his veins; he launched away from the touch, crashed into a tree trunk a foot away, and scrambled around to face her.

She looked terrible. Her hair, clothes and skin had dirt stains, the blaster wounds on her side were swollen and purple, and the couple hours of sleep clearly hadn't been enough. But her eyes… those were a bright sinister red. They looked alert and sparking with dangerous energy. "A little sensitive, are we? I was just going to pet you."

He was going to get hurt. No matter what he did, this was going to end with him getting hurt because she wanted that, she always wanted that. Helpless tears rose to his eyes. "Don't touch me," he said shakily.

"Ouch. After we slept together and everything." Dominator twirled a lock of her dirty hair. "That's no way to make a lady feel good about herself."

Anger twisted in his stomach. "Slept together?" he ground his teeth. "Dom, what y'did was _wrong_! That wasn't – it's not - y-you aren't s'pposed to force people!"

"Really? Gosh, I wish I had known that last night."

"You knew it and y'did it anyway." He clutched the bark behind his back as tight as he could – his mutilated fingers flared with protesting pain, but that was nothing new. He didn't know what it was like to _not_ be in pain at this point. "Dom, I thought even you would have limits. That there was… was some awful things y'wouldn't do."

"Gee, why would you think something dumb like that?"

"… y'don't feel bad about it, do ya? Not even a little?"

"Nope!" she emphasized the 'p' with a pop. ""Honestly? I thought sex with you – or just in general – was gonna be super lame, but… that was _really_ fun. Who knew?"

"And you're not ever gonna be my friend," Wander said, but it wasn't really a question.

Dominator tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Would you call it friends with benefits? Ooh, this is exciting! I haven't ever had a friend before, much less one with benefits. How fun." She gave a little excited wiggle, and Wander fully grasped the idea that she couldn't be saved.

"We're gonna stop you," he growled out.

"Aw, are you? I really wonder how, because your little circle of friends is only getting smaller and smaller. I mean, if you couldn't defeat me before, what hope do you _really_ have now?"

Wander swallowed hard. "You're hurt now. Y'try to sound brave, and y'try not t'let it show, but _we hurt you_. We can defeat you."

Her grin faltered. "Since when did you get so defiant?"

"That's why you destroyed your ship, isn't it? You wouldn't have done that if you weren't desperate, Dom – you wouldn't have blown it up if y'thought y'could fight us!"

Any trace of a smile was gone from her face, and Wander's racing heart frantically tried to remind him that provoking Dominator was a very _very_ bad idea, but his mouth didn't seem to want to listen. "We're gonna bring you down, Dom, 'cause the good always prevails. _Always._ An' the galaxy's gonna recover, an' we're all gonna be happy and together and havin' a great time. It'll be like you didn't do anything, like you were never here! You aren't gonna mean _anythin'_!"

There was silence. Silence enough for him to hear his heartbeat in his ears, and for panic to set in the way it should have several minutes ago. She didn't move. She didn't say anything. Her face was entirely devoid of expression.

Apologies started tumbling uncontrollably from his mouth, "'msorry, Dom, I shouldn't'a said that, I didn't mean it, really, that wasn't polite – I'm so-"

She stood up sharply. Wander didn't breathe. "Why'd you have to go and ruin a good morning like that?" she said softly. "I mean, all right, it wasn't the _best_ morning in the world. I slept on _dirt_ for Grop's sake, and my hair is disgusting – unlike you, I don't sleep outside like a dirty hobo. Plus, it's way too early to be awake and I'm hungry. So it wasn't the greatest."

She closed the distance between them and Wander writhed, whimpering out pleads and protests. He wanted to push her away, fight her off, but all his limbs had seemingly become noodles. She reached out and cradled his right hand, her thumb settling into his palm. With a definitive crack, she snapped his wrist.

Words and screams both leapt from his chest, and she calmly talked over him, "Still, I was determined to make this a nice morning for the both of us. Start with a little banter, pet your gross filthy fur, and be on our merry way. Really, is that too much to ask?"

One hand grabbed his forearm; the other grabbed his hand. Gazing straight into his eyes, she began to twist the broken joint. There was this awful crunching sound, not one clean snap, but rather a closely gathered series of grinding pops. His spine shuddered and his eyes rolled.

"I want to make something clear," she added, in a softer voice. "I've destroyed hundreds of planets, Wander. Billions of people. At least I wasn't one of those lousy billions of nobodies that died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. _They_ are the ones that meant nothing. Unsuspecting little citizens, doing nothing and going nowhere, until their planet got destroyed and nothing is left to remember them."

With one final dismissive noise, she shoved him aside and stood up sharply. Wander immediately curled around his throbbing wrist, whimpering softly. Pain at least was familiar. The fear was still there, and the pain was sharp enough that it kept him down, but rage railed against his ribs.

She couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't keep hurting him.

"Dangit," Dominator said softly, and she really did sound remorseful, "Look what you made me do. I wasn't even going to hurt you today."

Wander's eyes curved up to follow her as she stretched and yawned. "I'm not scared of ya, Dom," he said; he wanted it to be true but knew it was a lie.

She snorted. "Just get up. I'm starving, and we need to get moving before your horse finds us."

Wander tucked his chin to his chest. "Th'nlet'r."

"What?"

He bit his lip.

"What did you say?"

"Let her find us."

Dominator fixed the most condescending and confused look upon him. "What is _wrong with you?"_

He wanted to burst into tears, but none would come. "I-I don't know."

Her expression softened, but it was no less dangerous. "Aw, this is too much for you, isn't it? It's breaking your little brain."

He averted his eyes.

"It's okay. I'm not mad." And she knelt down in front him; hands cradled his cheeks and he whined. "Honestly? You look kind of adorable like this. I mean, I could do without the whole defiant song and dance, but… there's just something so broken about you."

Wander wasn't surprised this time when she kissed him. He tried not to react, tried to focus on simple things like breathing, and most of all tried not to fathom that she might want to do what she had done last night.

Then, she froze. For half a second, Wander didn't understand why – was it to trip him up, to put him off guard, and then hurt him again? Then he heard it too – a very distant yell, barely carried over the wind, but completely unmistakable. _Sylvia._ She was looking for him. She was – not close, not exactly, but –

"SYL- mggh!" Dominator wrapped her hand around his mouth, her eyes a furious red.

" _Don't even think about it_!"

"Wander?" that distant voice warbled, and there wasn't any question about who Wander was going to listen to.

A well-aimed kick straight for Dominator's injured side freed him, and Wander writhed from her clutches, screaming at the top of his lungs, "SYLVIA SYLVIA HELP ME SYLV-hrk-"

Lava constricted around his mouth, scrawled over his face, snaked to wrap around his entire body. A scream of frustration rose up his throat but ended as nothing more than a muffled squawk.

"Well," Dominator hissed grimly, "looks like we need to run."


End file.
